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A BUDGET 



OF 



LETTERS FROM JAPAN 



REMINISCENCES OF WORK AND 
TRAVEL IN JAPAN 



BY 

ARTHUR COLLINS MACLAY, A.M., LL.B. 

w 

Formerly Instructor of English *n the Ko-Gakko-Rio, 
Tokio, Japan 



SECOND EDITION. 



NEW YORK 

A. C. ARMSTRONG & SON 

714 Broadway 

1889 



JAPAN REFERENCE 
LIBRARY 

NEW YORK 



<* 









Copyright, 1886, 
By ARTHUR COLLINS MACLAY. 



6 

Copy 

076<3H 
1 Mr -1* 



Press of J. J. Little & Co. 
Astor Place, New York. 



V 



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ex 



I DEDICATE THIS BOOK 

TO THE MEMORY 

OF 

MY MOTHER 



PREFACE 



During my leisure hours, while a sojourner in " the land 
of the gods and of the rising sun," I made it a practice — partly 
as a matter of recreation, and partly from a desire to secure 
accurate information — to carefully reduce to writing my ob- 
servations and experiences while dwelling in that beautiful 
country, in order that I might always have something tangi- 
ble wherewith to refresh my memory in coming years when 
those vivid impressions had become dimmed through lapse 
of time. In the course of years, these " wayside jottings " ac- 
cumulated in a manner quite surprising to myself. Throw- 
ing out all matter that had been dwelt upon to any extent by 
other writers upon Japan, and retaining only that which 
seemed to me to be fresh material upon this subject, I reduced 
the substance of my journals to a book, adopting the form of 
correspondence as being conversational in its nature and 
best suited for conveying to other minds the results of my own 
observations and experiences. Submitting the work to several 
impartial readers, I was strongly urged by them to have it 
published as containing matter of general interest presented 
in a readable manner. Bowing to their judgment in the mat- 
ter, I now submit this " Budget of Letters" to the individual 
opinion of each reader, hoping that each may derive as much 
profit and pleasure from the perusal thereof as I have derived 
from the composing. 

Arthur C. Maclay. 

32 Park Place, New York City, 
July 1, 1886. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

The unexpected kindness and commendation with which my Budget 
was received by the critics of the Press in the United States, Canada, 
and Japan, very naturally afforded me much pleasure and encourage- 
ment. As was predicted by the New York Herald, that portion of my 
book which shows the measureless inferiority of Buddhism when com- 
pared with Christianity, — "although the logic is unassailable." — did 
not much recommend it to the favor of the Theosophists. In 1S83 I 
attended a missionary meeting in one of the most orthodox churches of 
one of the most orthodox sects in the city of Brooklyn. I there heard 
one of the clergymen addressing the meeting commit himself unreserv- 
edly to the statement that the fundamental principles of Christianity 
were substantially the same as those of Buddhism. Of course, the 
Bishop in whose presence this reckless assertion was made strongly 
protested against any such doctrine. I noticed, however, that the peo- 
ple seemed to be rather amused than offended at the statement of the 
speaker. Subsequent inquiry revealed to me the fact that there existed 
a widespread sentiment in the community that perhaps the assertion 
was based on fact after all. This incident set me to thinking. The 
first broad conviction that forced itself upon my mind was that the 
speaker's statement certainly did not coincide with my conclusions on 
that subject, as drawn from many years of observation and study in 
China and Japan. Can it be possible, queried I to myself, that one 
who has been brought up among Buddhists, and who has imbibed their 
doctrines from childhood up to mature years, must be informed that 
Buddhism is not understood by those who practice its precepts ? Can it 
be possible that the time spent with the monks up in the serene altitudes 
of the Kushan Monastery among the mountains of Fookien in south- 
ern China, discussing with them in their own language the mysteries 
and the ceremonies of their creed, was productive of no insight into 
their doctrines ? Did the scholarly missionaries who discussed the sub- 
jects with them, not understand the fundamental principles of Buddh- 
ism when they urged the religion of Christ upon them ? And, then, 
when I remembered that all that I had learned about Buddhism in 
China had been corroborated and verified by four years of study and 
observation in Japan, I further queried to myself, " What is this thing 
called Buddhism in the United States?" It surely differs vastly from 
the original article. Surely, if there had been such doctrines in 
Buddhism as people here claim, what prevented me from being a 
Buddhist myself? — for their magnificent ritual created a far deeper 
impression on my youthful mind than the simple services of the Chris- 
tian religion. It did not take me very long, however, to discover that 
Buddhism as understood and practised by the pagans themselves was a 
very different article from the spurious substance held up by those people 
in this country who were anxious to elevate some heathen creed up to the 
level of Christianity in order to deal the latter religion a foul blow, and. if 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. VU 

possible, thus to neutralize its claim to being of divine origin. Buddh- 
ism as understood by pagans is one thing, and Buddhism as pictured 
by those who would like to twist it to suit their own views, is quite an- 
other thing. Having made these interesting discoveries, I came to the 
conclusion that when a layman must listen to an orthodox clergyman 
recklessly asserting that the fundamental principles of that religion 
which has everywhere dignified and elevated human existence, and has 
rendered human life worth living, are substantially the same as those of 
a creed which has stagnated and degraded human existence wherever it 
prevails, and which pronounces human existence to be but a curse, — 
that then it was about time for some protest to be heard from the pews. 
Accordingly I wrote my chapter on Hiyeisan, which shows that the fun- 
damental principles that were incorporated into Buddhism by its founder 
are totally different from the fundamental principles incorporated into 
Christianity by its founder. This chapter has run a severe gauntlet and 
has come forth verified. Not a single statement has been refuted. The 
Boston Da ily Advertiser pronounces the remarks to the point, and adds, 
" We do not remember to have seen the wide difference between the two 
(religions) better set forth in a few pages than in this volume." In this 
matter I desire to see fair play, and no foul blows delivered. If the 
fundamental principles of these two religions be the same, in the name 
of justice, let that fact be established fairly. Until that be shown by 
such evidence as would hold in a court of reasonable and fair-minded 
persons, I shall continue to assert the divine origin of Christianity, and 
to assert the human origin of every other religion the world has ever 
produced. As the Alta California well expresses it, " The author 
denies that Christianity is a mere development of human wisdom and 
experience, and gives the unnamed Boston philosopher, whom he so 
ably refutes, something to ponder over besides the unproven vagaries of 
Buddhism." 

But how about the " Light of Asia " ? some one has asked. Doesn't 
that sweep away the distinction between the two religions ? By no means. 
In the first place, I most cordially admit that the " Light of Asia" is a 
most beautiful poem. In the second place, it pictures the doctrine of 
Nirvana in an exquisite and correct manner. In the third place, the 
gifted author has woven through his verses (unconsciously, I presume,) a 
vast mass of Christian sentiment that does not belong to Buddhism, and 
which greatly misleads the reader, who is thus made to believe that the 
difference between the two religions is merely nominal. I will venture 
to assert that a Buddhist could never have written the " Light of Asia." 
That is to say, a mind that was the product of many generations of 
Buddhistic thought and teachings, and whose sentiments by the laws of 
heredity were the outgrowth of such doctrines, could never have written 
such a poem. At all events, Buddhistic intellect has had twenty-five 
centuries wherein to produce some such poem, and has not done so. I 
will venture the further assertion that none but a Christian intellect 
could have written the " Light of Asia." That is to say, none but a 
mind evolved from a Christian ancestry whose sentiments and inspira- 
tions had been transmitted to it by the laws of heredity, could have pro- 



Vlll PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

duced such a poem. At all events, this poem has been produced within 
one century from the time when intellects that had been developed 
and operated upon by the principles of Christianity came into familiar 
contact with the teachings of Buddhism. 

In conclusion I fain would propound this query to those Christianized 
intellects that have so generously rushed to the rescue of this form of 
paganism : If the fundamental principles of these two religions be the 
same, why is it that the Empire of Japan to-day trembles on the verge 
of Christianization ? Why has that haughty and aristocratic nation cast 
aside a religion founded by a king's son, and, after but thirty years of in- 
spection, become willing to adopt one founded by a Jewish peasant? Verily 
that was a shrewd summing up of the case by one of my pagan pupils : 
" You foreigners in Europe and America have shown yourselves to be 
the leaders of the Nineteenth Century in the arts, the sciences, and in 
literary culture and political development. You are keen, observing, 
and profound in of all your investigations. Your intellectual capacity is 
wonderful. Yet, if we are to believe infidels, you worship a man who 
was a bastard, a lying impostor, and a criminal justly executed under 
the laws of his country for his insolent blasphemy in claiming to be the 
son of the great God that created the universe ! It is incredible that 
you foreigners, who have shown yourselves to be no fools in other 
things, should be such colossal idiots in this matter of Christ. There- 
fore, when such great nations manifest such credulity, it is better not 
to scoff at them, but to carefully investigate the grounds of their belief. 
Therefore, I wish to carefully study your Bible, and to probe this 
mystery for myself, because I deem the subject worthy of my closest at- 
tention." Accordingly that young man investigated the subject for two 
years, and came to the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth must have 
been precisely what he claimed to be, the Son of God. Any other hypothe- 
sis branded the Caucasian race as an aggregation of colossal fools. No 
sane Jew could honestly have made such a claim. To suppose that 
some Nazarene could have been hallucinated with such an idea, thus 
courting torture and crucifixion, involved a supposition entirely too 
violent for this "hard-headed" young man. Nor could he see any 
sense in the hypothesis that a madman, or a mild idiot, could have pro- 
duced a system of moral ethics so matchlessly pure and perfect. In 
short, he found that all other hypotheses required far greater stretch of 
credulity to accept than merely to take Christ at his word, and to believe 
on him as the Son of God, the Redeemer of the human race from that 
subtle and mysterious innoculation of sin instilled into our blood by 
our common progenitor, that innate tendency toward degradation and 
corruption to which every family and nation under heaven have borne 
abundant testimony. In one of his letters he exclaimed : " I wish to 
become a disciple of this Christ ! " So says the Empire of Japan to-day. 
What say you to this, infidel ? In the light of your alleged exposures 
and denunciations, be they fools ? 

Arthur C. Maclay. 

New York City, September, 1888. 



EXPLANATORY REMARKS. 



New York City, February i, 1886. 

Dear Public: 

Inasmuch as introductions are, subjectively and 
objectively, a bore, permit me to be very brief in 
introducing to you my friend Theophilus Pratt. 
He was a school-teacher in Japan for four years. 
He taught in various parts of the Japanese Em- 
pire from the year 1873 to the year 1878. During 
that time he wrote me quite a number of letters, 
which to me were very interesting. They are 
upon a variety of topics, including house-keeping, 
rebellions, and assassinations. They describe the 
halcyon days of school-teaching in Japan. They 
also touch upon events of general interest to 
Americans and Europeans. 

These letters, I repeat, were very interesting to 
me. Hence I naturally inferred that they might 
interest others. Therefore I have arranged them 
in book form, and now present them for your 
perusal. Hoping that our tastes in this matter 
will coincide, I remain, 

Very respectfully yours, 

Julius Marcellus Van Tag. 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER I. 

PAGE 

The Farewell i 

LETTER II. 
A Voyage Across the Pacific 6 

LETTER III. 
Yokohama 21 

LETTER IV. 
Hirosaki 35 

LETTER V. 
A Glimpse of Old Feudal Times in Japan 57 

LETTER VI. 
A Few Ideas About Life in the Interior 81 

LETTER VII. 
A Tragedy 99 

LETTER VIII. 
A Few Reminiscences n 1 

LETTER IX. 
Tokio 130 



XI l CONTENTS. 

LETTER X. 

PAGE 

School-teaching in Tokio 162 

LETTER XL 
A Summer Vacation 173 

LETTER XII. 
Missionary Work in Japan 196 

LETTER XIII. 
A Trip Through Classic Japan 219 

LETTER XIV. 
Kioto 243 

LETTER XV. 
An Excursion to Nara 258 

LETTER XVI. 
Fujiyama 272 

LETTER XVII. 
The Satsuma Rebellion 287 

LETTER XVIII. 

HlYEISAN 303 

LETTER XIX. 
Social Problems in Japan 333 

LETTER XX. 
Our Imperial Cousins 365 

LETTER XXI. 
Farewell to Japan 385 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

The Yomei Gateway Frontispiece 

Casting up Accounts 21 

iwa-ki-san 35 

Street Vender 43 

Gossiping at the Well 51 

Old-style Warriors 57 

Third Moat of the Tokio Castle 68 

Our Postal Service 81 

MAYEBARA gg 

Street Scene in Hirosaki in 

AlNOS I3 o 

The Ubiquitous Jinrikisha 145 

The Kago X 62 

The Tomb of Tokugawa Iyeyas 173 

Glimpse of Chiusenji Lake 186 

View of the Third Terrace, Nikko Temples 196 

The Citadel of Owari Castle 219 

The Great Bell at Dai-Butz Temple, Kioto. 243 

The Death of Buddha 258 

Image of Dai-Butz at Kamakura 272 

The Citadel of Kumamoto Castle 287 

Ruins of the Citadel of Aidzu Castle 303 

A Quiet Corner in a Buddhist Cemetery 333 

At Home 346 

The Three Estates 365 



A BUDGET OF LETTERS 
FROM JAPAN. 



LETTER I. 

THE FAREWELL. 



San Francisco, California, October to, 1873. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

I AM off for Japan. I left New York in such a 
hurry that I was unable to give you a parting call. 
I therefore present my apologies and explanations 
by letter. I expect to be gone for three or four 
years; and I wish to open a regular correspondence 
with you during my sojourn abroad. If you agree 
to this plan, be so kind as to notify me to that 
effect. 

Why did I decide so suddenly to go to Japan? 
Permit me to explain. You will remember that 
my studies were interrupted by the failure of my 
eyesight last year. This inopportune event laid 
me on the shelf, colloquially speaking. About six 
weeks ago I received a letter from my friend 
Adamson, in Yokohama, urging me to go out to 



2 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Japan and teach school. He said the work would 
be agreeable and not too hard for my eyes. He 
also said that the pecuniary considerations were by 
no means to be overlooked. He advised me to go 
right on to Yokohama so as to be ready to make 
application for the first vacancy that might occur. 
This was the only way to do, for there was no 
probability that a Japanese delegation would wait 
upon me in the United States. He said I might 
have to wait a year, or I might have to wait only 
a month, for one of these flitting opportunities. 

In almost every transaction in life we are obliged 
to incur a certain amount of risk. Success is the 
result of an ever-varying equation. The science of 
life is to calculate that there is a reasonable prob- 
ability of a given set of circumstances producing a 
plus quantity, and then to go ahead. In the pres- 
ent case, the circumstances and conditions augur 
well for success. 

The journey across the continent was not spe- 
cially exciting. We came through from New York 
with the same car-load of passengers with which 
we started. We had the usual assortment of 
travelers. There was the bridal couple going to 
visit the Yosemite. There was the Englishman 
returning to China via America despite the warning 
of anxious friends who had cautioned him to be- 
ware of the free fights and the railway disasters of 
the reckless Americans. There was the elderly 
lady with spectacles, who had come to write a 
book on Mormonism, and wanted to silence all 



THE FAREWELL. 3 

assailants with the fact that she had seen the things 
therein stated with her own eyes and could not be 
mistaken. There was the man going to get up a 
lecture on the Chinese immigration question, and 
wanted to convince his audiences of his impar- 
tiality by stating that he had been in California 
and could testify whereof he knew. And then 
there was the party of ubiquitous " Globe-T rot- 
ters " with their Cook's Guide. We were given to 
understand that they represented several millions 
of dollars and also a rare assortment of refinement 
and culture. And, finally, there were Mrs. What's- 
her-name, from Boston, and her husband, — but he 
didn't count. She had strong scientific tastes, and 
made many very wise observations. She thought 
that the country, through which we passed yester- 
day, gave strong evidence of glacial erosion. To- 
day she wishes that she could obtain some of those 
fossils in the ledge of rocks to our right, for she 
feels positive that the place gives indications of 
much geological interest. Her meek husband then 
expresses profound regret that the sordid aspirations 
of the lucre-loving railroad company will not allow 
the scientific passengers to spend an hour or two per 
day at these carboniferous outcroppings. She then 
pines for some of those lovely endogenous bulbifer- 
ous plants that are growing beside yonder marsh, for 
she feels sure that they must be some new species, 
and heaves a regretful sigh as the train passes on. 
Whereupon her husband turns around and looks 
wildly down the car, as if seriously contemplating 



4 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

the immediate stopping of the train, or some other 
desperate maneuver whereby the bulbiferous endo- 
gens may be procured. But, on second thought, 
he settles down and delivers himself of a diatribe 
against the vile mercenary spirit of railroad cor- 
porations in general and of the Union Pacific in 
particular. Enlisting the florid effusions of some 
of his choice oratorical efforts, he warmly asserts 
that corruption in high places should be closely 
scrutinized ; that bribery and trickery among our 
public officials should be ferreted out, and an 
indignant public should excoriate the same with 
withering scorn ; and that the surest way of staying 
this frightful torrent of chicanery, and of heralding 
in pure politics, was to grant universal and unre- 
stricted suffrage to the much-abused and down- 
trodden female sex. To all of which an approving 
amen was smiled by the budding scientist whose 
genius was thus being rudely blighted by the 
grasping avarice of the Union Pacific. 

It took us about seven days to cover the dis- 
tance between the oceans. The journey was a 
most enjoyable one. The greater part of our com- 
pany will take the same steamer for Yokohama. 
This will make it quite home-like. I have not 
cumbered myself with very much luggage. A 
trunk and a box of books tell the tale. They say 
that Yokohama furnishes all articles needed by 
Europeans and Americans. I hope you will ex- 
cuse the brevity of this letter. Also, its abrupt 
termination, for I must go down to Santa Clara 



THE FAREWELL. 5 

this afternoon to visit some cousins living there. 
Keep me posted on all home news, and I will post 
you on all news relating to Japan. 
Truly yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 



LETTER II. 

A VOYAGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 

Yokohama, Japan, December 18, 1873. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

I HAVE been here about a month. I have not 
yet secured a position ; but my friend Adamson 
says that patience is a great virtue, particularly 
in Japan. He says that more than half the battle 
is won by being here on the ground. I hope to 
report progress in my next letter. My mornings 
I spend in walking over the delightful hills 
surrounding Yokohama. For two hours after 
tiffin I am engaged in teaching a couple of 
Japanese gentlemen. After that, I have some 
time for reading. And then before dinner I take 
another walk through the city or along the Bluffs. 
I have already been over almost every path within 
a radius of five miles of this place. Everything is 
so novel that it seems as if I were in a new world. 
Private teaching here is not very remunerative. 
Japanese do not feel able to pay more than five 
dollars per month for tuition ; and the majority 
feel heavily taxed when they have to pay two dollars 
per month. Unless a person can secure a contract 
under the government, he will find school-teaching 



A VOYAGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. J 

a poor business. But all this is not answering 
your questions about my voyage across the 
Pacific. 

Let us imagine ourselves on the wharves at San 
Francisco. We pass up the gangway of the huge 
paddle-wheel steamer chained to the pier. Its 
accommodations are superb. Upon the upper 
deck is a social hall where we can have music and 
dancing. Upon the same deck is a fine broad 
promenade. Here, the children, the terror of sea- 
going folks, spend most of their time. These 
steamers take about twenty-six days to reach Yo- 
kohama in moderately fair weather. The pro- 
pellers take about eighteen days. They are not, 
however, so comfortable, and many of the ladies 
prefer the extra time, with comfort. 

Having arranged our stateroom, we lean over 
the taffrail beside the main gangway, and watch 
the passengers coming up from the pier. Here 
comes the English party. They recognize us and 
exchange nods, for in journeying we dispense with 
formal introductions. Behind this party come 
three or four Japanese gentlemen dressed in Euro- 
pean style and armed with patent leather valises. 
Then follows a Chinese Commissioner leading his 
two boys. They are all dressed in their native 
costume. And their well-greased pig-tails flaunt 
gently in the breeze. They come stalking up the 
gangway as consequentially as if they owned the 
ship. The contrast between them and the Japa- 
nese is characteristic of the two nations. 



8 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

The tide of passengers and leave-taking friends 
is now surging up and down the plank in a con- 
tinuous stream. It is within a few minutes of high 
noon, and we are preparing to start. Ah ! here 
comes the admirer of bulbiferous endogens. And 
beside her is the denouncer of corrupt railroad cor- 
porations, our friend Mustaches. That feeble old 
gentleman meekly following them is the father of 
the gushing scientist. We came near being deprived 
of their society across the Pacific. Time's up ! 
The gang-plank is drawn away. The hawsers are 
cast loose, and the vessel swings from the wharf. 
Round go the wheels, and the spray sprinkles the 
crowd on the pier. The extending wake of boiling 
waters now marks our course down the bay. 

Have you ever seen your native cliffs sinking be- 
neath the waves? And have you ever felt as you 
gazed mournfully astern through the misty air 
that your farewell might be final, and that you 
might never see those blue mountains rising from 
the sea ? Then you can appreciate our feelings. 

The passengers crowd the hurricane deck and 
wave their handkerchiefs to the crowded shore. 
Many eyes moisten as the gap widens and the re- 
sponsive flutterings become obscured by the dis- 
tance. Even the officers wear a resigned expres- 
sion. But the saddest group of all is the little 
party of missionaries just abaft the paddle-box. 
They necessarily feel the situation far more keenly 
than people who are going abroad for self-interest, 
expecting to return in a few months, or two or 



A VOYAGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 9 

three years at most. Their outlook is gloomy. 
For they are to be gone for ten years at least, un- 
less death or disease steps in to shorten their 
exile. Now, in the Sunday schools we used to get 
the impression that missionaries were a species of 
beings so divinely constituted that they were not 
apt to be affected by ordinary human woes ; but 
here we see simply a sad little company of devoted 
people who are greviously afflicted, like ordinary 
mortals, with homesickness. And as they hurry 
down into the cabin we grimly wonder how many 
of the church members at home, who believe in 
missionaries never leaving the foreign field, and in 
their going to heaven by way of India and China, 
and who are so loud in dictating about the econo- 
mical disposal of missionaries, as if they were 
pieces of church furniture, would thus ostracize 
themselves from home, friends, and civilized' 
society. 

But our voyage is begun. The peculiarity of a 
sea-voyage across the Pacific is that you get almost 
all nationalities represented. English, French, 
Germans, Jews, Chinese, Japanese, and Americans 
are apt to be well represented. All grades of so- 
ciety, all creeds, and all professions are also apt to 
be represented. The cosmopolitan character of 
the passengers usually promotes good nature and 
sociability. You, of course, know what a sea- 
voyage is. There is much sameness in the general 
run of events. Eating is our prime occupation. 
Coffee and toast at seven ; breakfast at eight ; tif- 



IO LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

fin at twelve ; a regular dinner at five ; and tea at 
nine ; there you have it. 

Our interludes we fill in with reading and gossip- 
Sometimes the Japanese passengers are criticised. 
You are duly informed how many cigars they 
smoke per day; how many bottles of wine they 
drink at dinner ; how often they pace up and 
down the spar-deck indorsing the civilized method 
of exercise ; how little Tanaka, while pacing the 
deck with the dignity of a tycoon, had his high 
hat blown over the quarter-rail and came very near 
going over himself while frantically hopping after 
it ; and how sociable, genial, and chatty they are. 

Then you will hear a long yarn about the mis- 
sionaries. How the stewardess says the ship al- 
ways meets a storm when they come aboard ; and 
how foolish it is for people to spend thousands of 
dollars in sending them abroad when there are so 
many heathens at home. 

Then you will hear about the English. How 
they bet on every imaginable thing, — on the 
weather, on the number of miles run per day, on 
the prospects of rain, on the continuance of the 
wind, and on the length of the voyage. 

Then the Americans catch it. And our English 
cousins furnish us with a series of dissolving views 
upon society, politics, and morality in all that por- 
tion of dangerous territory called by civilized na- 
tions America, but which we designate the United 
States. 

They always advance the same arguments, and 



A VOYAGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. II 

tenaciously cling to the same line of assertion. 
They get most of their ideas from English news- 
papers and journals, and never think for themselves 
as to whether their ideas are accurate. I have had 
several tilts with them and have now become so 
familiar with their mode of attack that I begin to 
wish they would start a new journal in England so 
that we can have a little variety in our discourses. 
After a short conversation you can tell by what 
London newspaper an Englishman swears. 

We have had several animated after-dinner dis- 
cussions. As a matter of recreation, I have 
dramatized these belligerent talks. I here insert 
a copy of my humble efforts. It will serve as a 
sample. 

ACT I. 

Scene I. 

(Captain's table. Dramatis Persona?. — Captain, two 
Germans, three Englishmen, and two Americans. All 
busily engaged in eating nuts and raisins.) 

Dr. Smith of London. — I say, would you mind just passing 
that dish of almonds ? 

Mr. Brown of New York. — With pleasure. 

Dr. S. — An uncommonly auspicious beginning for our pas- 
sage, you know. 

Mr. B. — It is, indeed. But I fear we shall have some cases 
of seasickness before we reach Japan. 

Dr. S. — I am rather inclined to think so myself, you 
know. 

Mr. B. — This Pacific has a false reputation, I think. The 
captain thinks we will have some rough weather before we're 
through. 



I 2 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Dr. S. — So the "fright dark" told me. 

Mr. B.— Excuse me, but I didn't catch the gentleman's 
name. 

Dr. S. — That gentleman near the purser. 

Mr. B.—0\\ ! Freight clerk, you mean — that individual 
with a red moustache. 

Dr. S. — Ah ! That's another one of the peculiarities of the 
American language. You know, I am often floored by some 
of your odd provincialisms. You never know when you are 
going to turn the corner sharp upon one of them. It's con- 
foundedly awkward, you know. 

Mr. B. — I don't think much difference exists in the culti- 
vated language of the two countries. The colloquial does 
vary somewhat, I believe. 

Dr. S. — But you Americans are changing the English lan- 
guage, you know. 

Mr. B. — All languages, sir, that live must grow, you 
know. Even in England the language has changed within 
a century. 

Dr. S. — But your American phrases and patois, so to 
speak, are sometimes quite unintelligible. 

Captain.— To hear you talk, doctor, one would think that 
the English language was spoken in full perfection in Eng- 
land. But I have been to places within two hours' ride of 
London where you positively can't understand the people and 
they can't understand you. Just go over the Sussex Downs 
some time. And as for patois, you have a number of them 
even in so small a space as England ; to say nothing of the 
barbaric lingo you find in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. 

Mr. Jones of Liverpool.— And don't you find the same 
thing in America ? 

Captain. — No. You can go from Maine to California and 
be perfectly understood, except among the Indians. 

Dr. S.— Quite true. Yes, quite true. But I'm afraid you 
don't fully grasp my meaning, you know. I refer more par- 
ticularly to the newspaper literature of America. I think 



A VOYAGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 1 3 

you'll own that American editors are guilty of the most un- 
justifiable liberties in distorting the English language. Look 
at the Police Gazette, the Buckeye Democrat, and the infer- 
nal orthography of Artemus Ward and Naseby. 

Mr. B. — Be fair, doctor. You are not selecting standard 
papers. And then you must remember that no American 
pretends to recommend the spelling of Ward and Naseby. 
These writers are popular both in England and America 
because they are humorous and witty. 

Mr. Griggs of New York. — Guess you'd better try again, 
doctor. Why don't you quote the Harpers', the Atlantic 
Monthly, and the North American Review ? 

Dr. S. — Well, take the Harper 's Weekly then. See how 
it copies pictures from English papers. You will often find 
the same picture in both papers. 

Mr. B. — Well, supposing we do. Don't you copy Ameri- 
can jokes into your English papers ? We copy your choice 
illustrations, and you copy our witticisms. Doesn't that 
leave the sides equally balanced ? 

Mr. Jones. — But your American papers are so addicted to 
exaggeration that a stranger finds himself sorely puzzled 
what to believe. I have met a great many Americans who, 
when I say that a certain thing is stated so and so in the 
newspaper, immediately burst out laughing and say that is 
just why they don't believe it. A man can't tell what to be- 
lieve, you know. It's intensely awkward, indeed it is. 

Air. Griggs. — I regret to say that your remarks are quite 
just respecting what we designate as our newspaper "trash." 
Some of these papers are very vile, I admit. But our first- 
class newspapers are not generally unreliable. You must 
remember that your English papers frequently make blun- 
ders. And they sometimes get decidedly personal. 

Mr. Pinker of London. — Then you Americans are so 
superficial. You don't do things thoroughly. Why, I met 
an American in Paris who had been there just a week and 
was talking of returning home. He thought he had " done " 



14 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Europe ! You Americans think you can do Europe in three 
months ! 

Captain. — Pray how long have you been in the United 
States ? 

Mr. Pinker. — Just long enough to come across and take 
Niagara in. 

Captain. — I thought so. That's just the way nine out of 
every ten Englishmen do up the States. I've met lots of 
them on this route. You fellows jump on the train at New 
York. Then you make a rush because you have heard that 
railway traveling is dangerous in America, and you never 
know when a band of Sioux will board the train. At 
Niagara you scamper on to the Canadian side, and then 
thank your stars that you are safe. Then you make a bee- 
line for San Francisco and board the first steamer for 
Japan. And after that you consider yourselves fit to discuss 
America, socially, politically, and otherwise. You fellows 
lack consistency. 

Mr. Pinker. — Well, I saw enough to see that Americans 
all live in hotels. Your daughters trail their dresses through 
public drawing-rooms everywhere. 

Mr. Dobbs. — After what you have said, it can hardly be 
expected that you should possess an exhaustive and critical 
comprehension of our institutions. I have lived in America 
thirty years, and I feel confident in asserting that as regards 
America outside of the large cities, your statement is essen- 
tially incorrect. 

Mr. Pinker.— I've been told so by many travelers. Then 
there's an awful amount of rascality in America. The ve- 
nality is something frightful. The papers are full of it. 
Even the railroad corporations are corrupt. In coming over 
on the train, it was a subject of remark how the Union 
Pacific Company ignored the interests of the passengers. 
And besides, the cars in America never go over twenty-five 
miles an hour. Now between London and Liverpool we 
have trains that go over fifty miles per hour. 






A VOYAGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 1 5 

Air. Griggs. — Have you ever heard of the Erie road ? 

Mr. Pinker.— No. 

Mr. Griggs. — Well, what are you blowing- for then ? 
We have got trains there that go as fast as any in England. 

Mr. Pinker. — I don't believe it. 

Mr. Griggs. — Look here, my friend. I see what you Eng- 
lish want. You want us to make a clean, unadulterated, up- 
and-down, out-and-out confession that republicanism is a 
failure ; that the American social system is mawkishly tame ; 
that our political institutions are corrupt to the core ; that 
our people are rapidly degenerating into effeminacy and im- 
becility ; that education of the masses is bosh ; that the 
abolishing of our Constitution and the adoption of British in- 
stitutions is merely a question of time ; and that our benighted 
citizens are gradually becoming aware of these facts, and are 
beginning to see the error they committed a hundred years 
ago in separating from the essence of political freedom. 
When we have humiliated ourselves to that extent and suf- 
ficiently groveled in the dust, you may possibly be induced to 
smile upon us ; and may condescend to appoint governors to 
fatten off us ; and may modestly send over tax-collectors to 
fill the depleted treasuries of your bankrupt government, and 
to squeeze out of us wherewith to help support your useless, 
scrofulous breed of nobles that now greedily looks upon our 
prosperity. 

All. — I say, hold on ! Are you wound up for any special 
length of time ? 

Mr. Jones. — Let the steward clear the table, and we'll ad- 
journ to the smoking-room, where brother Griggs may con- 
tinue his speech. 

{Exeunt.) 

That's about the way it goes. I always thought 
that Americans were given to bragging. But I 
must confess that the English are just as bad. I 



1 6 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

find that the elements of human nature are the 
same all over the world. And it takes a sea voyage 
to bring out all its phases. Take the Bulbiferous 
Endogen, for example, and her partner. There 
you have an aggressive female linked to an insipid 
man. She represents a type of womanhood which, 
thank heavens, will never be very popular. It cer- 
tainly is not a fair specimen of our American ladies. 
She has energy and positiveness enough for a school- 
boy, but she lacks the true instincts of a lady. She 
is well read and has considerable intelligence, but 
she parades her knowledge so incessantly that you 
become disgusted. She takes endless pains to let 
you know that she is intellectual and scholarly ; yet 
she is oblivious of the fact that true scholarship is 
always modest, and that only pedants love to dis- 
play. Once in awhile she gets off a clever remark, 
but the superficiality that invariably accompanies 
these hits quite destroys their effect; and the air 
of conscious superiority that she assumes fairly 
makes you pity her. After conversing with her 
about ten minutes you are usually refreshed with 
the information that she graduated at the head of 
her class in some college; that there were some 
men in the same class, but that they, of course, were 
entirely inferior to the ladies in scholarship ; that 
she has studied Latin, Greek, higher mathematics, 
logic, rhetoric, chemistry, and lots of other things ; 
that she is proficient in French and German ; that 
she considers herself equal to any Harvard or Yale 
graduate ; that it is all bosh to say any intellectual 



A VOYAGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. I 7 

difference exists between men and women, — that 
if any does exist it is in favor of women ; and 
finally, that female suffrage is only a question of 
time. For emphasis, she gravely looks over her 
glasses and slowly taps the arm of her chair with 
her fan so as to direct with greater force the 
arrow of conviction, and looks around ready to an- 
nihilate any one should they chance to question 
her views. And Mustaches sits by tamely breath- 
ing forth an occasional " That's so ! By Jingo ! " 
and fills in the pauses by telling how he prepared 
for Yale College but did not enter (for reasons quite 
obvious), and that he hopes to see the day when 
co-education and woman suffrage shall prevail all 
over the United States. Bah ! Let us drop this 
compound of nauseating egotism and pedantic prig- 
gishness. 

On the twenty-sixth day we sighted the Japan 
coast. I went on deck to get a view, but could see 
nothing that looked like land. Finally, just over 
the bows, I was able to see the dim outlines of 
snowy Fujisan some eighty miles away, rising and 
falling with the ship. 

At mid-day, we passed several fishing boats. 
By three o'clock in the afternoon we rounded 
Cape King and entered Yeddo Bay. From this 
point up to Yokohama is a sail that the visitor will 
never forget. Fishing boats are swarming in all 
the inlets that branch from the bay. The nude 
condition of the boatmen much mortified our Jap- 
anese passengers, who were highly disgusted at this 



1 8 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

prominent display of nature unadorned on the part 
of their countrymen. 

We steam rapidly up the bay, and leave behind 
us a lengthened vista of hills, groves, temples, and 
fishing hamlets. And we drop anchor in Yoko- 
hama harbor just as the evening mists begin to 
float from the distant valleys and repose against 
the sides of the lordly cone that we sighted this 
morning. 

We let down the gangway and are immediately 
beset by a fleet of boats scuffling for the first place 
beside it. While waiting the arrival of Fred, I lean 
over the railing and watch the surging crowd of half- 
naked savages scrambling, yelling, and gesticulat- 
ing in the most demoralized manner l^eneath. It 
amuses us immensely. And so this is Japan, the 
civilized Japan, about which I have heard so 
much. Incredible ! There must be some mistake ! 
These wretches must be imported. I turn to see 
who is grasping my arm. — " Why, bless me ! Fred, 
my boy, how are you ! I didn't know you were 
anywhere within a league. 

Fred. — " I have been on the Bluffs the past hour 
watching you coming up the bay. I was just going 
out for my afternoon walk around Mississippi Bay 
when the gun went off. Come, get your baggage, 
and let's be going. My boat is waiting. I want 
you to stay with me in Yokohama until you have 
negotiated a contract." 

In ten minutes we are sculling for the shore at a 
furious rate. 



A VOYAGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 



19 



" I say, Fred, you don't mean to say that these 
howling cannibals are Japanese, do you ?'' 

Fred. — " They are, my dear fellow." 

" Shades of Pompey ! Well, how are the people 
in the interior? Do they sport any more fine- 
twined linen vesture than these yelling hoodlums ?" 

" My dear sir, these boatmen are high-toned, 
civilized gentlemen compared with some of the 
specimens that you find in the interior. Why, 
we old residents don't notice these things. In 
the interior the summer costume is nothing for 
the children, a waist-cloth for the men, and noth- 
ing above the waist for the women. The Samurai 
class, however, are not so economical in their ves- 
ture. They usually appear in public fully dressed. 
But they only constitute about three millions out 
of thirty millions. The merchants are also a little 
more careful in their dress. But the masses dis- 
pense with as much as possible. But around the 
Treaty Ports, the government has commenced 
civilization, and are trying to cure these people of 
some of their startling tricks. They have issued an 
edict commanding all coming within five miles of 
Yokohama to don a short cotton tunic. I want 
you to understand that some of our Yokohama 
coolies are really stylish. For, in addition to their 
regulation shirts, some of those in the more ad- 
vanced stages of civilization will put on a pair of 
knee-breeches. But the moment they are beyond 
the charmed circle, off comes the eccentric western 
paraphernalia, to be slipped on again when a 



20 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

" bobby u heaves in sight. But here we are at the 
French Hatoba. Just walk up the steps. As soon 
as this custom-house officer has satisfied himself 
that you are not trying to smuggle Krupp guns in 
your trunk, we will ride up to my house." 

Now, Julius Marcellus, you must not be shocked 
at these closing scenes. I have given you a faith- 
ful picture of my first impressions of Japan. We 
must describe people as we find them, not as we 
expect to find them. In ten years such scenes will 
be rare. Old residents here say that Yokohama 
has greatly improved during the past five years. 
The people have really made great progress. But 
we strangers coming here, with our minds filled with 
the vivid descriptions of book-makers, are apt to ex- 
pect too much. My impressions are, on the whole, 
favorable. 

I will keep you posted on my progress in my 

next. 

Truly yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 




CASTING UP ACCOUNTS. 



LETTER III. 

YOKOHAMA. 

Yokohama, February 2, 1874. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

I SAT down with the intention of telling you 
something about Yokohama. But when I come to 
consider how much has been written about the 
place, I almost despair of telling you anything new. 
My letter will, therefore, be very rambling, as I 
wish to avoid broken ground. 

In. the first place, Yokohama is not Japan. It is 
one of the most cosmopolitan places I can imagine. 
Almost all nationalities are here represented. So 
that you will hear very little about the Japanese 
this time. 

The city is built upon a broad tongue of land 
jutting into Yeddo Bay. On one side is Yokohama 
harbor ; on the other is Mississippi Bay. Through 
the center of this tongue passes a line of low hills, 
known as the Bluffs. On the harbor side are re- 
claimed rice fields, built up with " godowns " and 
houses. This is known as the " Settlement." Ad- 
joining this you have the native town. On the 
Mississippi side of the Bluff you have the race- 
course, the rifle range, and a continued series of 



2 2 LETTERS FROM JAPAJST. 

hills covered with picturesque woods and wheat 
fields. Between the hills are spongy rice flats. The 
Bluff itself is covered along its entire length with 
villas, which are separated from the long, straggling 
road by shrubbery. On New Year's Day this road 
presents a gay appearance with its gates decorated 
with arches of pine and bamboo trees covered with 
Mandarin oranges. 

The stranger in Yokohama usually spends his 
first morning in Curio Street, just outside the " Set- 
tlement." Here he will find the best and most 
extensive assortment of bronzes, lacquer-ware, and 
silks to be found in the empire (1874). On enter- 
ing a shop, the salesman tries to find out whether 
you are a resident or a visitor from off the ships. 
If you are a visitor, the countenances of the shop- 
keeper and his interesting family brighten, ^.nd 
he forthwith proceeds to tuck on the prices with a 
cheerful face and a clear conscience. Should you 
chance, however, to be an old resident, he loses all 
inspiration. And the sale goes on in a listless, 
hangdog sort of way, as if he were feeling discour- 
aged at the financial condition of the country. The 
old residents are at a decided discount, while 
strangers are always welcome visitors, to be politely 
enticed into the store and relieved of as much 
cash for the least compensation as possible. 

In the afternoon you leave the Settlement, climb 
the Bluffs, and walk along the beautiful garden- 
like road that leads out by Mississippi Bay and the 
race-course. This course is not a very good one. 



YOKOHAMA. 2$ 

But the apparently indispensable nature of the in- 
stitution has inspired the soul of the indomitable 
Saxon to such an extent that the hilly nature of 
the country has been tolerably pruned into the 
required classic shape. Twice a year Yokohama 
suspends its business and pours forth its people to 
resort hither to recall inspiring visions of Derby 
and Doncaster, to watch the striped jockeys bob- 
bing round the track, to bet upon some ill-starred 
brute that comes limping down in the rear, to tes- 
tify their keen appreciation of trained horseflesh 
by judicious applause, and to show the assembled 
heathen multitudes how this thing is done in civil- 
ized countries. 

Passing the race-course we take the pretty road 
down by Mississippi Bay. Going through three or 
four miles of rice-fields, it sweeps around toward 
the other end of the Bluff. This is the popular 
drive for foreigners. We now come to the rifle 
range. This is where the French and English sol- 
diers practice with their Chassepots and Snyders. 
Here, also, are the grounds of the athletic associa- 
tion. In the spring and autumn the community 
resorts hither to enjoy the " spawts." Running, 
jumping, fencing, flinging the cricket-ball, throwing 
the hammer, and a variety of other physical con- 
tortions supposed to be indicative of strength and 
agility, furnish abundant amusement to immense 
crowds of natives, who view the proceedings with 
much the same appreciation manifested by the Co- 
rean Ambassadors when witnessing the agile climb- 



24 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

ing of the naval cadets. With languid sympathy, 
they remarked that there were monkeys in Corea 
that could do such things much better ! 

We now climb what is known as the English 
Bluff. We here have a peerless view down the bay. 
We will omit the accustomed ode to Fujisan, which 
can be seen to best advantage at this point. Next 
in order comes the English camp, the U. S. Naval 
Hospital, and the American Bluffs. This dash of 
the pen will give you a fair general idea of Yoko- 
hama. 

As to the social features, the Japanese regard it 
as the wickedest place in the empire. Not but 
what many good people live here, but it possesses 
a vast capacity for working iniquity. In this re- 
spect it is like all Oriental settlements where the 
lower forms of our civilization come in contact 
with a degraded Eastern society. The most in- 
iquitous people are generally to be found in the 
immediate vicinity of the civilization of the nine- 
teenth century. The polite countryman, who ex- 
pects to find in the foreigner a model of propriety 
and intelligence, seeks in vain for his ideal among 
the average community. And after six months' 
experience in the Settlement, becomes transformed 
into a brazen-faced jinriksha man, or a saucy boy, 
laying aside his manners and honesty as articles not 
appreciated by the coarse Saxons, who rarely lose 
an opportunity to drive merciless bargains, and 
who frequently adopt questionable methods of 
securing the main chance. 



YOKOHAMA. 25 

To understand life in Yokohama, you must come 
here and live. The moral tone of the European 
community is very low. In the majority of cases, 
a young man settles down to a life of license and 
shame. The prevalence of this custom would seem 
incredible to you folks at home. The tone of the 
community is, however, better than it was several 
years ago. The presence of large numbers of mis- 
sionaries has done much to elevate public senti- 
ment on this point. Consequently they are bitterly 
hated by the corrupt portion of the foreign settle- 
ment. 

Outside of business hours, the main occupation 
of the community is to kill time in the easiest and 
most fashionable manner possible. Various are the 
expedients for the consummation of this compli- 
cated object. Till four o'clock in the afternoon, 
the Bluff roads present quite a deserted appear- 
ance, while the Settlement is all alive. Then the 
tide changes, and all the Bluff becomes alive with 
pedestrians, horsemen, and carriages, presenting a 
gay and lively appearance. Horseback riding is 
much favored. Your thorough-bred cockney, pre- 
ceded by about half-a-dozen hounds, mounts his 
pony, and, accompanied by a yelling groom who 
goes scampering alongside, comes thundering down 
the road, scattering the natives to right and left, 
bows graciously to his lady acquaintances, and al- 
lows no mortal object to check his career until 
he chances to spy Sir Harry coming down the 
Bluff, when it is considered the proper thing to 



JAPAN RE 
LIBRARY 

IslPW YORK 



26 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

rein up and salute this servant of the British 
public. 

The paper chase is a popular item of recreation 
that comes off about half-a-dozen times during the 
winter — these delightful winters that never trouble 
you with sleet and slush. These hunts are some- 
times on foot, and sometimes on horseback. Torn- 
up paper is scattered along the hedges, across the 
neat, garden-like fields, through the thickets, and 
over the hills. Excellent opportunity is then af- 
forded for -ambitious athletes to bark their shins, 
wade knee-deep through mud, annihilate their hab- 
iliments generally, and then come rushing home 
to receive a silver cup from the hands of some fair 
damsel. And the gaping peasants wonder how 
much per hour the danna-san charges for that spe- 
cies of self-immolation. It at first seemed to me 
that this chasing over the fields was an arrogant 
infringement of the right of property; and that 
thirty or forty brogans tramping over the fields 
would be ruinous to the crops. But after several 
conversations with our enlightened cousins, and 
after thoroughly imbibing the spirit of the match- 
less press of this community, I clearly perceive that 
my base-born republican views were to blame. I 
am now fully convinced that my plebeian ideas of 
the rights of the vulgar peasantry were utterly in- 
compatible with the liberal sentiments of this en- 
lightened Settlement. Truly it would be a shame 
to interrupt a party of gentlemen in pursuit of 
manly " spawts." On such occasions, persons at- 



YOKOHAMA. 2 7 

tempting any interference must not be surprised 
at a cuff over the ears, or a cut from a riding-whip. 
And I shudder as I consider the benighted pug- 
nacity that would be displayed by some of our 
democratic farmers as, slinging shot-guns over their 
shoulders, they would lead on a couple of bull-dogs 
to join in the chase. 

Another popular source of amusement is foot- 
ball. During the beautiful winters matches are of 
frequent occurrence. Sometimes it is England 
against the world. Sometimes it is old residents 
against new residents. And sometimes it is the 
fleet against the Settlement. On these occasions, 
the brass band from the flagship will kindly lend 
its services. 

Then we have the Dramatic Association, which 
furnishes its quota of entertainment during the cold 
season. The theater on these occasions is well 
patronized by the community. During the warm 
season this association will give an open-air enter- 
tainment in the Public Gardens on the Bluff. This 
is a rare treat, — at least for the spectators. But 
the rarity of such performances would rather indi- 
cate that the parties directly concerned considered 
it no joke to sweat through quarter of an inch of 
powdering on time. 

We may also mention boating in our list. For 
about five weeks in the spring your Yokohama ath- 
lete drops his pipe and beer long enough to bring 
his body into trim. The races are generally between 
Scotch and English crews. The Americans rarely 



28 LE TTERS FROM J A PAN. 

participate, and consequently sink below zero in the 
estimation of the sporting public. The newspapers 
frequently suggest that races be arranged between 
Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, and Shanghai. An 
occasional regatta is the result. But the distance 
between places, and the fact that the participants 
cannot often leave their business, will always more 
or less interfere with these amusements. 

But I may safely say that hunting and loafing 
constitute the ideal recreations of Yokohama. To 
don a loose suit of clothing, to stretch back in a 
long chair, to languidly suck your pipe and sleepily 
read the latest novel in the deep shade of your cool 
veranda, form delicious relaxations preferable to all 
others. And when your bosom friend, Slukes, 
lounges in, you can order the boy to bring the iced 
drinks, and then dreamily slip into an exquisite dis- 
sertation on Japanese inefficiency and the latest 
missionary scandal concocted by the outside com- 
mittee of Yokohama, which, by the way, appears 
to hold perpetual session on the private affairs of 
the community at large. 

But should all these afore-mentioned diversions 
fail to satisfy the public appetite, it then devolves 
upon the three and a half local papers to enliven 
the ennui. It is sometimes quite difficult for the 
ingenious members of the combined editorial staffs 
to furnish the required amount and variety of ma- 
terial to suit the fastidious taste of our highly dis- 
criminating community. An acute diatribe, how- 
ever, severely handling the legislative performances 



YOKOHAMA. 



2 9 



of the government is always in order. Selections 
of choice jokes and witticisms culled from American 
papers are peculiarly acceptable. And a bitter con- 
troversy between the chaplain and the community, 
upon some trifling church affair, is an invigorating 
species of diversion that appears to have peculiar 
charms, and is devoutly encouraged on all possible 
occasions. And should some evangelist chance to 
come to town, his appearance in the pulpit will not 
only secure a full house but columns replete with 
attempted wit, theological lore, and sublime non- 
sense upon the folly of filling the minds of the sim- 
ple-minded natives with a lot of religious bosh. 
For you must remember that our Oriental connoi- 
seur dearly loves an opportunity to criticise " relig- 
ious buffoonery." And some unfortunate expres- 
sion or objectionable view uttered by the reverend 
gentleman, will furnish the magnanimous and 
casual anonymous correspondents with teeming 
sheets long after the victim has fled the unkindly 
shores. 

Moreover, the missionary furnishes an apparently 
unfailing source of recreation. He is served up 
with peculiar relish. The Oriental settlements seem 
to take unbounded interest in the private affairs of 
this harmless portion of the community. It does 
not appear to be considered impertinent to publicly 
investigate their respective salaries, the houses they 
live in, the number of their servants, what kind of 
clothes they wear, what society they keep, the 
petty misunderstandings that may chance to arise 



30 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

among them, and whether or not they are actuated 
by mercenary motives. These gentlemen of the 
imperial race run amuck with the whole clerical 
brotherhood, and mercilessly appropriate, as legiti- 
mate subjects for literary cuteness and witticism, 
the most trivial circumstances. 

But should all these themes become exhausted, 
it is then the solemn duty of the fractional editorial 
trinity to launch invectives against the vile corrup- 
tions and mercenary venality of the republican in- 
stitutions of America. They execrate in withering 
terms the naughty doings of " that clever but wicked 
people. " And should some dyspeptic article against 
the government be found in some democratic sheet 
that longs for the days of Buchanan, it must be 
copied verbatim as incontestible proof of the speedy 
dissolution of the " great Yankee farce." I never 
knew so much about America until I came to the 
east. And I must confess with humiliation and re- 
gret my utter ignorance of the genius of our people 
until I was enlightened by these comprehensive 
philosophers. I now see clearly that our Constitu- 
tion is based upon false principles; that we will be 
compelled soon by the force of natural political 
evolution and social differentiation to have a mon- 
arch and a nobility ; that Washington, Adams, 
Jackson, and Jefferson were fanatical monomaniacs ; 
that but for the immigration from Europe our ef- 
fete breed would soon become extinct ; that we are 
thorough in nothing, our best work of every de- 
scription being done by imported foreigners ; and 



YOKOHAMA. 



31 



that we were blind to our interests when we left 
the protecting wing of Britannia. 

Am I getting excited ? Not at all. But this 
is the only way an American can express himself. 
The press is entirely English. And, having no op- 
posing paper, they rather drift into a characteristic 
disposition to bully our portion of the community. 
An occasional letter in one of our home papers 
checks them for a while ; but they soon forget 
themselves and drift into their unfair and cynical 
style of criticism. So you must not be startled at 
this mild ebullition. 

To change the subject, it is interesting to con- 
jecture what the future of Yokohama will be. 
Some think that the foreign population will in- 
crease until we have a city like Hong-Kong or 
Shanghai. Others think that it will remain the 
same. While others, whose views I am rather in- 
clined to endorse, hold that the foreign element 
will gradually dwindle down to a few scores of pro- 
fessional residents, while the mercantile business 
will be in native hands. This ground is certainly 
plausible. There was a time when the foreign 
merchants here made money rapidly. But those 
times have passed. Money now comes slowly. 
There are too many merchants for the place. And, 
besides, the natives are beginning to take much of 
the trade into their own hands. They have mo- 
nopolized all of the cheaper custom. They are par- 
ticularly apt in photography and outfitting. And 
as each successive year rolls away they become 



32 LE TTERS FR OM J A PA N. 

more competent to push themselves into the higher 
departments of business. Being able to live upon 
about one-tenth of what it costs a foreigner to live, 
having no expensive establishment to keep up, and 
being contented with a lifetime of small gains, they 
can defy the competition of the European, who 
must make his fortune within ten or fifteen years 
at the most. 

It is amusing to listen to the common run of 
trades gossip here. You gather the impression 
that five years is the proper time wherein to make 
a fortune. And if cash is not fairly coined within 
the allotted time, you hear no end of talk about 
hard times and the rascally nature of the Japanese 
in general. Importers of dry goods and European 
clothing, in particular, have lost heavily. When 
the fact that Japan had become civilized had fully 
dawned upon Europe, the keen tradesmen of that 
part of the globe, with a sharp eye to business, at 
once clearly perceived that these unclothed millions 
must have a general outfit of civilized vesture. 
Forthwith, the incoming steamers brought cargoes 
of nondescript dry goods. Felt caps, superannu- 
ated "plug" hats, antiquated neckties, thousands 
of shirts and singlets, combs, buttons of every 
variety, innumerable pieces of woolens, hosiery of 
endless assortments, brogans of all known sizes, — 
in truth, beloved Julius Marcellus, you might easily 
have imagined that the combined efforts of all the 
old-clothes dealers in Europe had been employed 
to ransack the four corners of that continent for all 
species of Noachian apparel. 



YOKOHAMA. 33 

But there was a miscalculation somewhere. The 
market was overstocked, and the goods had to be 
sold at auction with immense loss. Your average 
native, after having invested in a hat, shirt, and 
a pair of colored spectacles, appeared to have 
reached the height of his ambition. He would cut 
no end of a swell meandering down the streets of 
his native village, reposing in the sublime con- 
sciousness of having fully solved the intricate prob- 
lem of civilization. This primitive simplicity of 
taste, however, does not appear to have suited the 
importer, thus reduced to the disagreeable alterna- 
tive of having his wares mildew in the godozvns or 
thrown away at auction. Some of the heavy losers 
then lost faith in humanity in general, and in the 
Japanese in particular. They accused the unwit- 
ting offenders of downright meanness. Some 
wanted the country to be reduced to a condition 
resembling that of Hindustan. Some wanted all 
the missionaries packed out of the country as being 
in some way connected with mercantile reverses. 
And some of the most radical threatened to turn 
apostles themselves, laboring under the delusion 
that the laborers in the vineyard were in receipt 
of some three thousand dollars per year. 

But the reasons for the commercial collapse are 
easily found. The vast mass of the natives are too 
miserably poor to invest in anything beyond head- 
gear. Imagine a man, whose yearly income is 
barely forty dollars, investing in our expensive 
clothing ! When such a party has been improvi- 
dent enough to become the possessor of a pair of 



34 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

trowsers, his prodigality has reached a height of 
extravagance at which he fairly trembles. And 
the vast mass of the people live on less than six 
dollars a month. Five dollars a month is consid- 
ered good pay. Seven dollars is very good pay, — 
sufficient to keep a wife in considerable style. 
While ten dollars per month would fairly stagger 
the soaring ambition of the countryman, being 
enough to furnish a new suit for his father, a brand 
new girdle for his wife, and no end of kites for the 
children. A man in receipt of such a sum would 
feel called upon to allow his intimate, less-favored 
friends to sponge numberless meals off him, intend- 
ing, of course, to return the compliment when the 
fickle goddess should cease to smile. 

The truth is, the Japanese are liberal beyond 
their means. That their means are limited, from 
our stand-point, is a melancholy circumstance for 
which they can hardly be held accountable. Should 
I return to Yokohama in twenty-five years, I don't 
think I would recognize it. By that time I imagine 
the European population will have dwindled from 
twelve hundred to three hundred. And the natives 
will probably be dressed in full foreign costume. 
But it will always retain a larger foreign population 
than any of the treaty ports, because of its central 
locality. 

My next letter will probably be dated from some 
point in the interior. Write soon and often. 
Truly yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 



LETTER IV. 

HIROSAKI. 

HiROSAKl, May i, 1874. 

Dear Julius Marcellus : 

SINCE writing to you from Yokohama, my for- 
tunes have changed considerably. I am now in 
tne northern part of Japan. I have just entered 
upon my first contract with the government as 
teacher of English. So here I am in the extreme 
northern end of Nippon, about nineteen miles 
from the Japan Sea, on the west, and thirty miles 
from Awomori Bay and the Tsugaru Straits on the 
north. 

As I am the only white man in the province and 
consequently expect to have abundant spare time, 
I shall open an extensive correspondence v/ith you 
during my stay here. Hirosaki was formerly the 
capital of this province. It is a city of about thirty 
thousand inhabitants. It is picturesquely located 
near some low mountains that skirt the base of an 
extinct volcanic cone which swells up from the 
shores of the Japan Sea to the height of about six 
thousand feet. This cone is much venerated by all 
the people, who call it Iwaki-san, rock and tree 
mountain. Standing guard beside a gap at the 



36 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

lower end of the valley, it overlooks the lesser 
heights that sweep around its base through the ad- 
joining provinces. From its summit you can gaze 
beyond the Straits as far as the dim outlines of 
Yesso. 

Hirosaki is like all Japanese Daimiate cities. 
You find the usual above-ground drainage in gut- 
ters ; the same style of long, shambling streets ; the 
usual pretty suburbs filled with monasteries and 
sacred groves ; and, finally, the more cleanly aristo- 
cratic portion encircling the Castle, where, in old 
times, the relatives and friends of the Daimios were 
accustomed to live. 

And now before telling you anything more about 
Hirosaki, I will tell you how I secured my con- 
tract and how I came here. 

As you know, I did not come to Japan with any 
specific opening in view. My friend, Adamson, 
wrote to me to come on, for if I could be on the 
ground the chances were very favorable for a con- 
tract. And he was right. When I had been sev- 
eral weeks in Yokohama the Directors of the 
Toogu-Gakko (School) in Hirosaki came to him 
and requested his aid in securing a teacher for 
them. Their terms were very favorable. But I 
did not want to make a contract for a longer term 
than eight months,— that is, so as to cover the 
months between February and November, for the 
northern weather is very severe. The loneliness 
was also another objection. Our negotiations were 
protracted nearly a month, and finally resulted in a 



HIROSAKI. 37 

contract upon my terms. Our contract was reduced 
to writing and sealed. This is the usual way of 
making such agreements. The Japanese always 
strictly carry out these contracts. When a native 
has once put his signature or seal to a document 
he invariably fulfills the terms. Until he has done 
so, he is as unreliable as the winds. 

I agreed to teach English six hours per day 
(Saturdays and Sundays excepted), and to furnish 
all advice that I thought requisite in the manage- 
ment of the school. They agreed to pay all my 
traveling expenses ; to allow me the month of 
August for a vacation ; to duly respect my rights 
as a citizen of the United States, and, in case of 
grave misdemeanors, to hand me over to the nearest 
American Consul ; to pay me on the twenty-fifth 
of every month ; to provide a first-class native 
house, comfortably furnished ; to give due notice 
should a renewal of the contract not be desired ; 
and, in fullness of time, to return me safely to 
Yokohama. 

Having thus balanced our minds, we began dis- 
cussing the route that we should select. To reach 
Hirosaki, you may choose two courses. Either go 
entirely by land, passing up through the extended 
provinces of Sendai and Nambu, or go to Hakodate 
and Awomori by steamer, and then go some thirty 
miles by land. 

I chose the latter course. The directors were to 
accompany me. These gentlemen had been re- 
tainers of the former Daimio of Hirosaki. They 



38 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

dressed in native costume. They understood very- 
little English, but with the assistance of Hep- 
burn's Dictionary, we got along first rate. They 
were exceedingly obliging and attentive, and never 
allowed even seasickness to interfere with their 
many little acts of kindness. When we went 
aboard the steamer they thoughtfully placed some 
oranges in my stateroom to relieve my seasickness, 
as they said. Weighing anchor, we set sail. The 
distance up to Hakodate is about five hundred and 
fifty miles. We had a rough passage up the coast, 
and were out facing the head-winds nearly three 
days. Hakodate is built on the landward side of a 
bold promontory that is almost insulated, being 
connected with Yesso by a narrow isthmus but a 
few feet above high tide. The native population 
is about forty thousand. The houses are built 
along the steep and curving mountain side, pre- 
senting a pretty view to the incoming ship. Great 
numbers of fishermen reside here. They find the 
surrounding waters teeming with vast varieties of 
marine life. The Japanese do not like the severe 
climate of this place and shun it as much as pos- 
sible during the cold weather. This makes the 
community very floating. During the warm weather 
the tide turns, and merchants, laborers, and trav- 
elers, stream up from the south. Although the 
climate is about like that of New York State, yet 
the natives, having none of our heating appliances, 
find it very trying. Fish and sea-weed form the 
chief exports of the place. Very few vessels float 



HIROSAKI. 39 

in the harbor during the year. The patois is said 
to be the coarsest in Japan. The customs and 
manners are regarded as very rude and uncultured. 
The refined Tokio gentlemen regard the social in- 
stitutions of Hakodate with much the same feelings 
manifested by the Romans for the truculent Hel- 
vetia If you chance to breathe the word Yesso to 
a warm-blooded southerner, a chill instantly passes 
down his back, and with a shiver he will inform 
you that it is cold up there, and that the people are 
barbarous. 

The foreign population in Hakodate does not ex- 
ceed thirty. With about half-a-dozen exceptions, 
the white delegation is decidedly discreditable to 
civilization. Licentiousness and depravity are here 
given full swing. The forms of degraded vileness 
that you come across here fairly make you blush 
for your race. 

Hakodate is desolate enough for the natives, but 
it is more so for the foreigners. There are no en- 
tertainments at all. Hunting is the chief sport. 
Excitement of any kind rarely occurs. Six years 
ago, however, the place at last became registered 
in Japanese history. Here the rebellious forces of 
the Shogun made their final stand. For several 
days the harbor and Head presented a lively ap- 
pearance. Several gunboats were destroyed. And 
early one morning, before the mist had lifted, the 
Imperial forces made a masterly maneuver around 
the Head and struck the rebels in the rear. A 
hot scuffle ensued. The rebels were demolished, 



4-0 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

and the place then settled down to its ancient 
repose. 

We remained in Hakodate several days. We 
then took steamer for Awomori. The distance is 
fifty-six miles. At this season the passage is intensely 
rough. If this route were in the direct line of 
travel, it would speedily acquire a most unenviable 
reputation. The fierce gales rushing down the 
Tsugaru Straits, together with the swift current, 
make a wild, chopped sea, very disagreeable to en- 
counter. During these trips the native passen- 
gers strew the decks, being fearfully seasick. The 
women, in particular, are great sufferers. At dusk 
our little steamer dropped anchor near Awomori 
beach. The bay is a large one, and is enclosed by 
headlands stretching northward. Behind the groves 
and villages rise the snow-clad mountains. Before 
going ashore, my attendants brought me some 
bread that they had purchased in Hakodate. For 
you must bear in mind that, although this place is 
but a few hours steaming from that place, yet it is 
almost impossible to obtain foreign provisions here. 
In going into the interior, even for a few miles, 
you have to carry your " chow," as it is called. I 
was much impressed with their kind thoughtful- 
ness in the matter. 

On the beach we were met by two of my future 
scholars, who had come up to anticipate our arrival. 
They spoke English fairly well. Considering that 
they had only studied it for one year, off in the 
interior, where they could never hear it spoken, the 



HIROSAKL 4 1 

wonder is that they were intelligible at all. They 
committed the common error of putting English 
words to Japanese idioms. As they had simply 
studied' text-books, their supply of conversational 
English was very limited. To illustrate: 

" We welcome you, dear master." 

" How is your health?" 

" If you desire anything, command us to do it. 
How do you call your name ?" 

I was so much pleased to meet them, however, 
that I took no notice of their rather obscure ad- 
dress, and guessed at their meaning and answered 
all questions. 

" Follow me and I will guide you," said the 
spokesman, taking a lantern and leading the way 
through the long lines of boats and nets upon the 
beach. 

We soon reached the streets. Everything was 
silent and dark. No street lamps anywhere. 
Here indeed was real Japan. There was nothing 
to remind one of civilization save a slight sprink- 
ling of ancient hats and neckties. The sidewalks 
were about four feet wide. They were of hard 
ground and were covered with a shed, so that loco- 
motion need not be obstructed during the severe 
winters, when the snow is heaped up nearly to the 
eaves of the houses. We must have made a weird 
appearance as we marched along in single file up 
the sheds dimly lighted by the swaying lanterns 
of the company, whose clattering clogs filled the 
streets with a prolonged din, and whose petticoat- 



42 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

like hakamas grotesquely flaunted from side to side 
as we lengthened our strides. After some ten 
minutes' brisk walking, our leader suddenly stop- 
ped beside a wicket-like door and called out to 
somebody inside. The door was slid back, and a 
top-knot popped out to view the situation. He 
told us to come in. We stooped and entered the 
hotel, for such it was. 

The landlord welcomed us by bowing his head 
three times down to the tat amis* (mats). My 
future " boy " was then brought forward. He 
fetched a tub of warm water and a towel and be- 
gan washing the mud off my shoes. He was ex- 
cessively timid and cowering. We then went up- 
stairs in our stocking feet. The entire upper story 
had been set apart for our accommodation. In 
honor of the occasion the landlord had borrowed 
a chair from a friend who had been enterprising 
enough to import it from Hakodate. It was not 
remarkably strong. I sat upon it and warmed my- 

* The word tatami has almost become anglicized in Japan, there 
being no English word that adequately represents it ; and it is a 
word that from necessity will be much used in these letters. Tata- 
mis are heavy padded mats about seven feet long, three feet wide, 
and about two inches thick. They are the only covering that the 
Japanese ever use for their floors. They constitute the principal 
feature in a native house, for, from their soft nature, they serve as 
beds, chairs, and tables. Being all of the same size, they form the 
unit of measure in estimating the dimensions of native structures, 
which are usually cited as containing such and such a number of 
tatamis, the temple of Chioin in Kioto, for instance, being quoted 
as having five hundred. They are manufactured of soft rushes, and 
are bordered with silken edges. 




STREET VENDER. 



HIROSAKI. 43 

self over a hebachi (brazier filled with charcoal), 
while my attendants sat around on the floor in a 
circle warming their finger-tips, for this seems to 
be the only part of the Japanese body suscepti- 
ble of cold. I suffered much from the cold. The 
change from Yokohama, with its green grass and 
budding flowers, to these chilling March storms 
blowing right off from Siberia, was too sudden 
to be comfortable. While my boy was prepar- 
ing supper, they compared notes and tapped their 
pipes perpetually on the rim of the hebachi; 
and I examined the pretty designs on the slid- 
ing doors. Finally my supper was ready, but 
there was no table, and how was it to be served ? 
Here was a complication that taxed the ingenu- 
ity of the whole group. They unanimously voted 
that it would never do to serve it on the floor. 
After much discussion and smoking, decision was 
finally rendered in favor of placing two orange 
boxes on top of each other and spreading a red 
blanket over them. The company then filed out 
of the room, and I took my seat and awaited the 
opening of the programme. Fish, rice, pears, and 
omelets were brought in on little dishes. After 
the boy had placed them, he knelt down to await 
orders. Calling in my interpreter, I intimated that 
it would be more agreeable to me to have him 
standing. Thereafter he stood up, but always 
wore a troubled expression, as if wondering at his 
own audacity. After supper I had quite a con- 
versation with my interpreter. I found him to be 



44 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

a person of excellent parts. He was extremely 
anxious to travel abroad. I was much amused at 
the ponderous words he used in apologizing for the 
necessity of my sleeping on the floor, as there was 
no bedstead in the hotel. 

Our plan was to start for Hirosakiat five o'clock 
the following morning. But the negotiation for 
horses delayed us until eight. It took quite a 
while to load the beasts, for they were restless until 
they were satisfied with kicking and biting each 
other. At last we got off amid a drizzle of sleet. 
I had expected to go cantering over the road in 
jolly style. But as none of the party could keep 
up so as to show me the way, I had to drag along 
with the crowd. This horseback riding was a new 
feature in my experience. It was positively the 
most entertaining — nay, more, I confess it was the 
most absurd piece of atrocity ever inflicted upon 
your humble servant. A full-grown, able bodied 
man leads each horse with a straw rope. Just fancy 
four men riding in this imbecile manner over a 
plain road ! And you can't hurry them up. 
Whenever one of the nags endeavors to shake up 
the funeral a trifle, his man harshly admonishes 
him. 

We met long strings of horses and men coming 
down the mountains. They were all pacing along 
at a miserable hang-dog gait that nearly drove me 
wild. Merciful Zeus! What next? 

These nags are an unreliable set. The zest with 
which they improve all opportunities to kick each 



HIROSAKI. 45 

other is marvelous. A couple of model specimens 
of horse flesh will be meandering along as if pro- 
foundly considering the true inwardness of nags in 
general, until they come side by side, when, with 
inspired rapidity, they begin slamming their hoofs 
into each other's sides, utterly regardless how far 
their riders are flung over their heads into the deep 
mud of the rice fields. As their shoes are made of 
straw, they never damage each other very much 
by these displays of temper. 

By mid-day we had passed over the mountains. 
There was much rugged scenery. My boy had 
gone on to prepare dinner at the mid-way -village. 
Our road was now level. All the country is under 
a high state of cultivation. Rice is produced in 
every available spot. The long valleys, that go 
winding up into the mountains, are all terraced and 
flooded for this purpose. In the valley, to our 
right and left, extensive rice fields stretch off to 
the hazy mountains. Innumerable villages, pictu- 
resquely shaded by clumps of trees, are scattered 
along the winding road where endless squads of 
pack-horses are passing and repassing. All the 
houses up here are covered with tissue shingle 
weighted down by stones. Those who can not 
afford this, thatch theirs with rice straw. All the 
yards are surrounded with pretty hedges. Across 
the north-west face of every house you will see a 
high screen made of rush mats to protect the ten- 
ants from the deep drifting snows which are hurled 
down the valley during the bitter winter months. 



46 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Life in these villages must be dreary in the extreme 
during cold weather. 

About four miles from Hirosaki I met the whole 
school. They had waded through a quantity of 
slush that I would not have gone through even to 
see the Nana Sahib. They were drawn up along 
each side of the main street of a large village. As 
we appeared they welcomed us with profuse bow- 
ings. The entire village, numbering some two 
thousand pieces of humanity, had also turned out. 
It is impossible to describe the sensation of a per- 
son lionized for the first time. When you are hard 
at work on a match game of base-ball and have the 
entire field to yourself, you don't mind three or 
four thousand pairs of eyes watching you. But to 
ride through a crowd that is drinking in all your 
gestures, with mingled feelings of curiosity and ad- 
miration, makes one feel like evaporating. 

Arriving in front of the crowded hotel, his High- 
ness^) was assisted from his fiery nag and duly es- 
corted into a suite of rooms where the entire school, 
numbering some ninety scholars, were sitting in 
semicircular rows upon the tatamis. Around an 
extemporized table beside the window was grouped 
a party of school officials. Through the medium 
of the interpreters, a mutual introduction followed. 
Then came some of the steepest bowing on record 
in the annals of this obscure village. First the in- 
terpreters bowed to the officials. Then the offi- 
cials bowed to the interpreters. In bowing, they 
got down on all fours and mutually bent their fore- 



HIROSAKI. 47 

heads down to the tatamis three times in succes- 
sion, at the same time sucking their breath between 
their teeth, expressive of their intense pleasure at 
the honor of the salutation. Then the scholars 
saluted the officials, the directors, the interpreters, 
and his Highness, with repeated waves of obeis- 
ances. His Highness returned the salute by un- 
loosing the vertebrae of his neck sufficiently to al- 
low his head to duck forward a few degrees. Then 
followed a tempest of mutual kowtowing that beg- 
gared description. The entire crowd dissolved 
into incoherent atoms of bobbing heads. There 
were special salutations between special friends. 
And the special friends, to make things doubly 
sure, repeated their special salutations. And to 
help on the good work, the landlord and his lady 
came in and showered indiscriminate greetings 
upon the special friends, the directors, the officials, 
the interpreters, and his Highness combined. I 
must confess that his Highness was bewildered 
with the scene. Bowing with the Japanese is a 
real means of social grace. They revel in it ; they 
really seem to love it. In their efforts to outdo 
each other, the assembly seemed to him to be al- 
most frantic. He became exhilarated, inspired, — 
nay, almost infatuated with the desire to bounce 
down and root over the tatamis like a wild rhi- 
noceros. But, like a rock upon a surf-swept shore, 
he calmly surveyed the wild ' k confusion thrice con- 
founded," and helped himself to some tea and 
cakes ! 



48 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

After things had somewhat subsided, the spokes- 
man of the senior class made a little address in fair 
English, wherein were contained sundry glowing 
congratulations upon the safe arrival of his High- 
ness, boundless pleasure that the weather and the 
ocean had been propitious, sincere desires that the 
fatigues of the journey would soon vanish, and 
ardent hopes that the future would be quite as 
favorable in all respects. 

Now his Highness was not expert at impromptu 
addresses, so he was cornered. He, therefore, re- 
sponded with an approving bow and a few words 
of thanks, supplemented with some rather indefi- 
nite sentiments about the cordial relations that 
ought to exist between instructor and pupil, and 
coupled with a rather hazy observation about 
general good understanding between all parties 
present. 

The assembly now dissolved ; his Highness to re- 
sume his journey in the dusk, the scholars to plod 
back through the slush on the morrow. 

It was late in the night before our weary party 
entered the deserted streets of Hirosaki. It was 
raining heavily, and the sleepy horsemen were 
obliged to carefully pick their way through the dark- 
ness. Yonder, to our right, the trees around the 
castle loomed up grandly in the night. Our road 
led along the borders of the ditch and then turned 
sharply to the left, — " Look out, man ! You'll have 
me in the moat ! Where are you going, you loon ? " 
The drowsy fellow had well-nigh walked the horse 



HIROSAKI. 49 

into the stagnant waters. He rouses himself; and 
in a few moments leads me, half-frozen, into the 
gateway of my future home. 

My house was a good native dwelling, having 
eight rooms. My boy had already arrived, and, 
with the partner of his mundane vicissitudes, was 
the first to welcome the new master of the house. 
I found the interior decidely homelike. There were 
a couple of genuine tables, a first-rate writing-desk, 
five or six folding-chairs, two large rugs, two bureaus, 
a stove, and glass windows. The fire was lighted 
and I began rapidly to thaw out. Feeling very 
ravenous, I made short work of a roast chicken 
some fried potatoes, and some griddle cakes. I 
then slept the sleep that none but the weary know. 

The next morning, the directors and scholars 
called upon me. They were all dressed in native 
costume. Many of them wore Manchester singlets 
and woolen shirts. A few of those who desired to 
be stylish, and set the fashion for my future levees, 
wore collars and neckties. We shook hands all 
around instead of bowing. They all had their hair 
cut in foreign style. But a glance at the method 
of tonsure made me form a mighty resolve to cut 
my own hair while a sojourner here. 

Then followed the indispensable exchange of com- 
pliments. It was hoped that the teacher would 
find this poor house fit to live in ; that there was 
no better accommodation in the city, but, inferior 
as it was, they hoped the teacher who had left so 
many civilized luxuries would find it comfortable ; 
4 



50 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

and that they were delighted with my prosperous 
journey and safe arrival. 

To which, reply was made that the house and 
furniture were much beyond expectation ; that they 
would furnish much comfort and pleasure ; and that 
very many thanks were returned for the kind atten- 
tions shown. 

Formalities being finished, they proposed to assist 
me in unpacking my baggage. Although there 
could be no use for ninety pairs of hands, yet I ac- 
cepted the well-meant offer, intending, however, to 
perform all the work myself. Taking my hammer, 
I began on my box of books. But that would never 
do ! It was abhorrent to their ideas of etiquette 
that I should work while so many stood around 
idle. In deference to their importunity, I sub- 
mitted, and handed the hammer to one of the senior 
scholars, who immediately flung back his loose dress 
over his shoulders and began energetically pounding 
away without having any definite idea how the 
thing was done ; for the Japanese never use nails 
in their frail, shell-like boxes, so that one of our 
ponderous dry-goods boxes assumes formidable pro- 
portions to them. 

Five minutes' thumping fetched out profuse per- 
spiration, half a dozen chips, and about a square 
inch of skin from the knuckles. This mishap caused 
intense merriment among the bystanders. While 
number one was sucking the back of his hand, num- 
ber two vigorously grasped the instrument and 
speedily succeeded in giving himself a black and 




-,j V .i>v!- ;■ S'rl'i -^■■•* ! 







J 



HIROSAKI. 5 1 

blue nail amid peals of laughter. He dropped the 
hammer like a hot coal. Number three then picked 
it up with a gusto that foreboded the immediate 
lifting of the obstinate lid. He stood up to his 
work right manfully until a tremendous whack 
glanced from the edge of the box upon his shin, 
while the small boys of the third class nearly died 
laughing. Number four, five, and six then retired 
from the field more or less grievously wounded. 
The senior class was nearly decimated ; and there 
was a fair prospect of the entire school being num- 
bered among the victims before the boxes were 
opened. The directors stood scratching their heads 
and were muttering that it was decidedly mudza- 
kashi (difficult). In this perplexing dilemma, we 
were observed to carelessly pick up the luckless 
hammer and knock off the wood from around a 
crevice. Then inserting the other end of the in- 
strument, we pried up the lid with the greatest im- 
aginable ease amid a subdued murmuring of " Nara- 
hodo ! So-dis-ne ? " which may be liberally translated, 
" Ton my honor! That's the way, isn't it?" 

The box was now fairly opened. The books 
were then unpacked and passed down a long line 
of hands to the shelves in the next room. Con- 
siderable surprise was expressed over such an array 
of printed matter. 

The next box contained the provisions. They 
were quite willing that I should remove the lid. 
They were then passed down into the store-room, 
where a special committee deposited them in the 



52 LET TERS FROM J A PAN. 

closets. Each article excited considerable com- 
ment. The tin-can, and bottled fruits were riddled 
with criticisms. But the base-ball and the dumb- 
bells created the most interest. They failed to see 
any fun in catching so hard a ball. 

And so the morning was passed. Everything 
was duly arranged. At dinner time the kind- 
hearted assistants retired with sufficient material 
for six weeks' conversation. For you must under- 
stand that these natives are essential gossips. 
Their language is eminently fitted for this species 
of recreation. Off in the interior, where social 
stagnation prevails, an unusual event is something 
to be treasured up and handed down, and the 
coming of a foreigner forms an epoch in the history 
of a place. It will long be remembered how pom- 
pously he came into town ; how his fierce dogs drove 
the native curs beyond the village; how it took 
three pack-horses to carry his provisions and bag- 
gage ; how he had to stoop in entering the hotel ; 
how shaggy his beard was ; how he drank immense 
quantities of beer ; how he used a murderous word 
that his boy and groom had also learned to speak ; 
and how strange it was that so majestic an individ- 
ual should condescend to fool with the insignifi- 
cant waiter girls at the hotels. While the natives 
are by no means saints, it is a great pity that they 
should be spoiled by the coarse specimens of for- 
eigners that go swaggering through the country 
creating the impression that all of them are a set 
of licentious beasts. 



IIIROSAKI. 53 

And now, before closing this rambling letter, I 
must tell you a little about Hirosaki. 

As I said in the beginning of my letter, the great 
feature of this valley is the lovely cone of Iwaki- 
san. Whether seen in the rosy dawn, or at mid- 
day, or in the twilight, or when swathed in clouds, 
it is always lovely. The people love to watch the 
sunset bathing its stately form, resting against the 
deep hues of the evening sky, as they sip their tea 
in their gardens after the labors of the day. It is 
the lord of the valley. From its summit you can 
gaze beyond the straits as far as the dim outlines 
of Yesso. 

Concerning the origin of the mountain, the 
legends say that ages ago an old woman saw it 
rising up in the night, and in great trepidation re- 
ported the affair to her astonished neighbors. This 
same story is told about Fujisan and several other 
noted peaks. In fact, an old lady meandering around 
promiscuously at unseasonable hours, seems to have 
been considered a necessary witness to the produc- 
tion of one of these volcanic cones. A goddess is 
enshrined beside the crater. From all accounts, 
she appears to possess considerable characteristic 
capriciousness ; for she expects annual visits from 
all the men in the surrounding country, but forbids 
delegations of her own sex to appear at the chilly 
crests, under penalty of being whisked off into the 
limitless realms of air should they dare to disobey 
her exacting mandates. Whether the ancient priests 
invented this myth as an excuse to save the ladies 



54 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

a fatiguing climb up the misty heights, or whether 
her divine ladyship bears a sweeping grudge against 
the old crone that witnessed her debut, will forever 
be fertile subjects of conjecture to knights of the 
quill who delight in speculation and classical de- 
scription. Many thousand votaries worship at this 
shrine every year. They come from villages a 
hundred miles away. The vast majority are farmers, 
who organize themselves into companies while the 
crops are ripening, and, arming themselves with 
gongs and drums, flock toward the cone from all 
directions. During the cool hours of the autumnal 
nights you will be kept awake by the crash of the 
drums and the din of the chanting as the immense 
crowds of pilgrims stream through the city. 

The great architectural feature of Hirosaki is the 
castle which environs the bluffs in the center of 
the city. Its foundation was laid some three cent- 
uries ago, when the present style of building came 
into vogue. The Daimio was the most powerful 
in northern Nippon. His eastern neighbor was 
Nambu, with whom he was upon very good terms. 
His southern neighbor was Akitah, with which 
lord a bitter feud existed, leading to many a wild 
foray across the rugged borders. The entire sur- 
face of Awomori Province, as well as that of all the 
provinces that stretch northward from Kinka-san 
(a bold promontory half-way up the coast) is 
grandly mountainous. And, like all the provinces 
that face the Japan Sea, it has an immense snow- 
fall during the winter. 



HIROSAKI. 55 

Judging from the appearance of the people of 
these northern provinces, you would not infer that 
a double tide of immigration had swept over the 
country. First, at least twenty-five centuries ago, 
came the aboriginal Ainos from Siberia, Saghalien, 
and Yesso. They spread southward over the Japan 
Islands and were met by an opposing tide of Ma- 
lays {vide Asiatic Reports) that had drifted up on 
the Kuro-siwo from the archipelago beneath the 
tropics. The Ainos were no match for their hot- 
blooded competitors. And, after centuries of strife, 
they were pressed northward by the overcrowding 
population of the south ; and were finally expelled 
from Nippon and banished to the cheerless wilds 
of Yesso, whither their unrelenting enemies desired 
not to follow. 

The early history of Hirosaki and these northern 
provinces is composed mostly of feudatory skir- 
mishing which can hardly be designated war. The 
country was broken up into a series of petty chief- 
tainships. Instead of a Daimio for a large province, 
we find innumerable petty leaders of a few vil- 
lagers who lived in little moated enclosures. This 
epoch was one of perpetual frays. 

About the fifteenth century, however, some am- 
bitious master-spirit arose. Subduing the petty 
lords and compelling them to be his vassals, he 
selected the present site of Hirosaki for his head- 
quarters, and founded an enduring castle, leaving 
the primitive strongholds to become obscured by 
tillage until their original lines of demarcation had 



56 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

become obliterated by herbage. Houses sprang 
up all around the castle, and we have the pres- 
ent city. Excepting the castle, it presents but few- 
points of interest to the foreigner. 

As I. intend giving a full account of Japanese 
castles in a future letter, I will put my period here. 
Truly yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 




OLD-STYLE WAKRK>RS. 



LETTER V. 

A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. 

Hirosaki, July 10, 1874. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

About the only thing here that reminds me of 
civilization is the castle. There is something very 
inspiring in the lively notes of the bugle that make 
the entire place vocal in the morning, at noon, and 
at sundown. It contains a garrison of about a 
thousand men. They are dressed in blue uniform 
trimmed with yellow, and are armed with Snyder 
and Sharpe rifles. These soldiers come from all 
the provinces ; for the government will not allow 
the regiments to be composed of men coming from 
one clan lest it tend to promote sedition. They 
are small men, but are very plucky and hardy. 
They are kept under excellent discipline, giving im- 
plicit obedience to their officers, and are very quiet 
and orderly. It is a rare thing to find one of them 
drunk. When they do get drunk, however, they 
become childish rather than pugnacious. 

About once a week the garrison will turn out in 
force for a march into the country. They file 
through the streets with great regularity and are 



58 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

treated with great respect by the townsfolk, al- 
though many of them are from hostile clans. The 
government keeps a standing army of about thirty- 
five thousand men. The mass of these are in can- 
tonments at Tokio. But the others are occupying 
the many castles throughout the empire^ 

I was quite desirous of seeing the inside of the 
Hirosaki Castle, as it was in an excellent state of 
preservation. I therefore made a formal request 
through the school authorities. They were, for a 
while, in quite a dilemma, for no white person had 
ever been beyond the second moat, and they much 
dreaded a refusal. But it happened that one of the 
scholars had a brother who was an officer in the 
regiment, and through his kindness, permission was 
granted to visit it one Sunday afternoon, as on that 
day all the officers were at leisure. So, on the ap- 
pointed day, the whole school put on their best 
clothes and escorted me through the spacious 
grounds. The afternoon was very genial, the of- 
ficers were exceedingly courteous, no restrictions 
were placed upon our inspection, and we had a most 
delightful time indeed. 

Japanese castles are singular structures. They 
are all built upon the same general plan. Through- 
out the empire there are about one hundred and 
fifty of them, varying in size and antiquity. The 
origin of this style of building feudal strongholds 
has been ascribed to Yamamoto, a Daimio of the 
thirteenth Century. Other authorities date their 
rise some four centuries before this, holding that 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. 59 

the first one was built in Shikoku, the large island 
just south of Nippon. 

The term " castle " is misleading. For, unlike 
the flinty masses of masonry of Europe that delight 
to perch themselves upon lofty cliffs, these strong- 
holds rarely present high walls to the sight, and are 
generally built upon undulating or level ground. 
The ideal plan is to arrange the moats and embank- 
ments so that a moderately rugged hill shall be near 
the center, thus serving to increase the strength of 
the Tenshiu, or citadel. As a rule, you will find a 
triple system of circumvallation, one inside the 
other ; the outermost one being from two to four 
miles in circumference, while the inmost one is re- 
duced to a massive enclosure of a few hundred 
yards. The largest castle in Japan is at Tokio. 
The perimeter of its outlying line of circumvalla- 
tion exceeds ten miles, — in fact, a part of the me- 
tropolis is built between the first and second sys- 
tems. The next one in size is said to be at Shid- 
zuoka, about one hundred miles south-west of Tokio, 
but it is not half so large as the one in the metrop- 
olis. 

Scattered through the different islands of the 
empire, these mediaeval relics, more durable than 
the institutions they represented, still greet the eye 
of the inquisitive traveler as he journeys through 
the provinces. 

Imagine yourself standing beside the one in 
Hirosaki. This first system, here before us, is sur- 
rounded by a wide moat that is walled in with 



60 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

roughly hewn blocks of granite. On the opposite 
side, at a slight angle from the water, rises a thick 
swarded embankment to the height of about twelve 
feet. The top of this is defended by a strong picket 
fence and plastered wall, and a row of pine trees 
just behind not only beautifies the place, but fur- 
nishes additional protection to the defenders of the 
rampart. This moat and rampart sweep around 
about two miles, passing over an occasional bluff. 
In the castle at Tokio, the moat of the outer system 
has been carried through the foundations of several 
hills, necessitating several enormous cuttings at an 
immense outlay of labor. 

We now cross the moat by means of this fragile 
bridge, which has been purposely so constructed in 
order that it may be quickly demolished upon 
emergencies. For you must bear in mind that 
the famous drawbridges which spanned the chilly 
chasms of the Norman fortresses are not to be 
found in Japan. 

At the other end stands a double-storied tower 
with heavy wooden gates covered with iron plates. 
The strongly barred windows of the upper story are 
well arranged for a free play of arrows upon assault- 
ing ranks beneath. From the gable ends of the heav- 
ily tiled roof bronze fishes are gayly cuiveting in the 
air ; while from the corners, weird dragons appear 
to be ready for a spring upon the advancing foe. 
The brilliant white plastering with which the tower 
has been finished off presents a pleasing contrast to 
the dull gray stones of the rampart and the waters 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. 6 1 

of the moat. Seen at a distance peeping through 
the cordon of watchful pines, its appearance is gro- 
tesque in the extreme. 

We now enter the first inclosure. It covers many 
acres of ground. A long avenue of pine trees leads 
down to the second moat. The entire place is 
neatly swarded. It contains lines of barracks for 
the retainers of the prince. In the old days you 
would have found them here practicing fencing and 
other warlike diversions. This inclosure was used 
as a kind of promenade for the inmates of the cas- 
tle. Here we also find the parade ground, the or- 
chards, the wells, and the shady vistas twisting 
through the camelia and box-wood shrubbery. 

The second moat is deeper and broader than the 
first one. The towers are more massive, and are 
placed at shorter intervals along the rampart. Pass- 
ing over another bridge, we enter the second system. 
The grounds are about one-tenth as extensive as 
those just viewed. But they are far more rugged. 
It is a kind of fortified park. The general ap- 
pearance of the place is that of a pretty garden 
filled with neat paths winding around through the 
bamboo groves. Near the gateway are some tea 
booths, wherein visitors paying their respects to my 
lord, the Daimio, would tarry awhile chatting with 
the retainers until his Grace should be pleased to 
receive them. 

Following this path down the hill, we come to a 
long fire-proof " go-down " serving as an arsenal for 
the storing of semi-barbaric implements of warfare. 



62 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Off to the right, through that vista of fragrant 
olea, you will find the shooting range. At the foot 
of the hill, we find a fish pond. In the autumn, 
the wild ducks from Yesso delight to sport here for 
a brief period amid the lotus plants and water lilies 
that line the margin. 

This second inclosurewas the private promenade 
of the prince and a few select retainers. 

We now come to the third and last system of 
circumvallation. Here we find the citadel. The 
towers and ramparts are exceedingly massive. The 
hilly nature of the ground has been skillfully made 
to contribute to the strength of the place. The 
precipitous sides of the ravine seem to be but a 
continuation of the stony battlements above. But 
one gateway leads within this last system. 

Entering, we see the palace. The garden sur- 
rounding it has been laid out with the best native 
skill. Ponds for gold-fishes, shaded walks, and arti- 
ficial mounds representing Fujisan, are scattered 
around in pleasing variety. The palace itself is 
apt to disappoint you after having been led through 
all the external display. It is simply a very large 
and extensive Japanese house, having an immensely 
heavy roof covered with sheets of bronze. A 
superb veranda completely environs it. Everything 
is built of wood. The interior, however, is more 
interesting. There is but one story. All the rooms 
are extremely high and airy. They are separated 
from each other by exquisitely ornamented shojees* 

* The word shojee, like the word tatami, cannot be rendered prop- 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. 63 

(sliding doors made of paper) set in elegantly lac- 
quered frames. Upon the panels you see beauti- 
fully executed designs from nature, — mountain, 
field, and flood being presented by the best native 
skill. The floors are covered with the finest tat amis. 
A few lovely screens and some superb pieces of 
bronze and lacquerware will complete the furnish- 
ing of the apartments, for you must bear in mind 
that the Japanese are utterly deficient as regards 
upholstery. The ceilings of the rooms are usually 
finished off with square panels representing dragons 
and fairies upon gilded backgrounds. In the cham- 
bers of Nobunaga's palace in Owari the panels are 
said to have been originally inlaid with plates of 
pure gold. 

As was before hinted these palaces cover a vast 
amount of ground. The visitor is led through suite 
after suite until he becomes bewildered at the ap- 
parently never ending maze of elaborate apart- 
ments. 

As a rule, the finest room is the audience cham- 
ber. Here the combined skill of many artists con- 
spire to overwhelm the mind of the stranger with 
the wealth, the power, and the generosity of his 
Highness. Royal tigers are crouching upon the 
gilded panels. Here we see two of the ferocious 

erly into English. It will therefore be frequently used in the fol- 
lowing pages. It is a kind of sliding door set in grooves. They 
form the Avails and partitions of Japanese domiciles. Upon a fragile 
sashing of wood, delicate tissue paper is pasted ; this is then set in 
a light frame, frequently lacquered, adapted to grooves in the floor. 



64 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

beasts engaged in fierce combat. There we have 
the phoenix and the peacock perching upon gor- 
geous sprays of a species of plant that never existed 
outside of the artist's brain. While down at the 
far end of the room is a scene from Chinese history 
that occupies the entire side of the apartment. 

Great ingenuity has been displayed in the endless 
variety of the designs. No two are precisely 
similar. Here we have the lotus plant growing in 
an elaborate jar. There we see it blossoming beside 
the sedges in the moat. There it unfolds its gor- 
geous petals beside the mountain streams that flow 
through the shaded grounds of that monastery. 
And yet again we catch its impassioned gleam beside 
the lilies in the Imperial ponds. Very few of the 
historic scenes relate to Japan. China is the classic 
source of inspiration. 

For elegance and beauty, the palaces of Kioto, 
Owari, and Yeddo ranked among the highest. As 
there is a similarity between the castles in Japan, 
so the palaces furnish but little in the line of start- 
ling variety. 

Since the Imperial Revolution of 1 868-1 870, all 
these provincial strongholds have been turned over 
to the central government. All the former pro- 
prietors have been sent to Tokio to be kept under 
Imperial surveillance. Many of the castles have 
been allowed to fall into decay. Some of the 
choicest, however, are kept in a fair state of repair, 
and are open to the inspection of tourists from 
abroad. But the majority have been turned into 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. 65 

quarters for garrisons, and all the ancient parapher- 
nalia and ornamentation have about disappeared. 
Many of the bronzes, and most of the elegant lac- 
quering, now adorn the homes of the wealthy in 
Europe and America. 

You will find long rows of roughly-made bed- 
steads arranged up and down the spacious chambers. 
Muskets are stacked in the audience hall. Knap- 
sacks and heavy riding boots are strewn around 
promiscuously to be kicked under an adjoining bed 
by some passing foot. The shojees and tatamis have 
been removed, and but little remains to remind one 
of the former condition of things, save the few rooms 
appropriated by the officers. 

And now I hear you inquiring about the parties 
that lived within these walls. How did they spend 
their time ? What was the social life of the in- 
mates? How was administrative power wielded? 
In short, give a glimpse of old feudal times in 
Japan. 

Let us begin, then, with my lord, the Daimio, 
inasmuch as he was the theoretical sovereign unit. 
In him were centered the executive, the legislative, 
and the judicial power. These functions were then 
delegated to favored retainers, who relieved their 
lord of the drudgery usually connected with those 
departments. 

In discussing the Daimio, we will suppose him to 
be a person of fair ability and energy. He has 
under him some ten or twenty thousand samurai 
(feudal retainers) scattered through the Daimiate. 

5 



66 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Of these some five thousand live in the immediate 
vicinity of the castle, taking turns in doing garrison 
duty and in guarding their liege lord. 

From these again are selected the most promis- 
ing as personal attendants. Under the old regime 
it was the ambition of every samurai to be so 
chosen. For if an obscure retainer could win the 
notice and favor of his master by pleasing manners 
and bearing, he could flatter himself with the pros- 
pect of holding the most honored positions so long 
as the favor lasted. In some cases, powerful fami- 
lies would hold the princely favor for generations 
to the exclusion of others, thus causing bitter jeal- 
ousies, and, too frequently, cruel assassinations. 
This favor was usually secured and retained by an 
amount of obsequiousness quite repulsive to our 
natures. 

Now let us follow his lordship through a day's 
work. After breakfast (composed of rice accom- 
panied with delicate morsels of fish, rice-beer, and 
choice bits of vegetables, served up and eaten on 
the tatamis), a delegation of samurai will wait upon 
his Grace with a few items of provincial business 
which are presented for approval or discussion. 
Perhaps it is a memorial from some farmers peti- 
tioning for lower taxes as the rice crops have been a 
failure. Or perhaps it is a minute description of 
some foreign articles in an adjoining province. Or, 
possibly, it may be an account of another intrusion 
of one of those restless barbarian ships upon the 
coast. Or, it may be the disorderly conduct of 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. 6j 

some samurai, coupled with the suggestion that he 
be confined to his house for a few days as punish- 
ment. 

After this, a well-informed gentleman comes in 
to instruct his Lordship by edifying conversation 
upon a variety of topics. The manners, literature, 
and history of the Chinese will usually form the 
main topic of conversation. The duration of this 
private tutoring will entirely depend upon the tem- 
perament and mental caliber of the prince. 

In the afternoon, a stroll down to the shooting 
range will be in order. When the long-bows and 
match-locks have been sufficiently tested, some time 
will be devoted to fencing with bamboo foils. After 
which, a half hour or so of horseback riding up and 
down the avenues will be in order. 

About two or three times per month he goes 
forth from the castle to hunt with his falcons in the 
country. Occasionally he tackles larger game and 
brings down a boar or a stag with arrow or spear. 
Some of these excursions form famous themes for 
artists. In some of the drawings, my lord is repre- 
sented leaping his horse over a chasm and chasing 
a monstrous boar that rivals his steed in dimen- 
sions, while his speechless retainers stand gaping in 
hopeless bewilderment on the further edge, quite 
unable to follow the mad career of their valorous 
master. 

During the hot summer months when the exhala- 
tions from the moat render the immediate vicinity 
of the tenshiu unhealthy, he will journey off to his 



68 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

mountain villa, where he can spend a month or two 
in composing Chinese poetry in honor of the moon 
or his favorite concubine. For you must bear in 
mind that poetizing in this country is not a mon- 
opoly, but a mere mechanical process that can be 
learned by almost any one who desires to become 
expert in grinding out the requisite metered verses. 
Some of this princely rhythmic agony, by the way, 
enjoys considerable reputation. The sentiment, 
however, is never remarkably overwhelming in its 
effects. If our prince be public spirited, he will 
make an occasional journey through his Daimiate 
to see that all is going well. But the great event 
of the year will be his visit to Yeddo. The discus- 
sion of ways and means will occupy several weeks, 
and, as many months will elapse before his return, 
arrangements must be made for guarding the castle 
and keeping things in order. 

Theoretically, the Daimios were supposed to ex- 
change provinces annually in accordance with the 
laws of Iyeyas, the feudal law-giver of Japan. And in 
the early days of the Shogunate, this regulation was 
undoubtedly enforced. But the rule became prac- 
tically a dead letter as regards the northern and 
south-western provinces; although the right to 
carry out the statute was never relinquished by the 
house of Tokugawa. 

So long as a province sent in its regular tribute 
of rice, and disturbed not the peace of the general 
government by hatching conspiracies, it might 
retain its prince for many generations, — provided 




THIRD MOAT OF THE TOKIO CASTLE. 

(.Native Photography 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. 69 

he paid his regular visit to Yeddo to do homage to 
the Great Lord of Nippon. 

But I have been depicting to you an ideal Daimio. 
Your average lord, it grieves me to say, differed 
very much from this model. Instead of harkening 
daily to the edifying conversation of some learned 
samurai, he wasted his hours in frivolous sports 
and childish chit-chat with his concubines. He 
loved wine to excess, and was frequently as " boozy " 
as typical members of nobility are wont to be. So 
far from practicing his body with daily manly exer- 
cise, he resorts to the ingenious expedient of hav- 
ing two or three horse-boys wind his nags, and two 
or three coolies might strain their backs over the 
bows and arrows while he complacently watches 
their gyrations. As to practicing fencing, he 
merely desires half a dozen retainers to bang each 
other's heads with the heavy foils until he has 
thoroughly imbibed the intricacies of this highly 
scientific art. As to listening to the long-winded 
disquisitions of aldermanic Yakunins and official 
samurai upon the administration of provincial 
affairs, they might smoke their pipes over the he- 
bachis, ad libitum, and adopt any measure they 
might see fit, so long as they did not compromise 
his pleasures and revenues, and falconry and hunt- 
ing might go to the winds. And as to jumping 
chasms after wild boars, — the — the — well, the 
horse-boys can do that also. 

About three or four times a season he will exert 
himself sufficiently to visit some hot mineral springs 



JO LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

in the mountains to soak out the licentious impuri- 
ties of a past winter. Occasionally he will rouse 
his languid curiosity enough to examine some su- 
perb pieces of lacquer-ware or bronze, upon which 
he has squandered half the revenues of his province, 
perhaps. Should he wish to see some famous court- 
dancers, wrestlers, or any other performances of a 
curious nature, several days will be spent before the 
preliminaries, the preparation of the grounds, and 
the exhibition can be consummated. For it would 
be the height of vulgarity for his Grace to visit a 
house of public resort. He must inspect anything 
odd and novel through endless formalities. In 
short, he was a perfect slave to etiquette. And, 
unless he was a person of more than average reso- 
lution, he would inevitably sink into a state of utter 
and hopeless imbecility, — a condition, in fact, that 
was rather encouraged by the ambitious head men 
of the clan who desired to administer affairs to suit 
themselves without any interference from the prime 
power. It was a kind of oligarchy. The Daimio 
was a kind of social figure-head. He was to be 
petted and humored. He was never to have the 
placidity of his temper ruffled by any crossing ; he 
was to be treated with the most deferential obse- 
quiousness ; to symbolize limitless power, though 
possessing little of the essence. In short, he was 
to be kept in a state of perfect animal good nature, 
and to have his ambition and energy dissipated by 
abundance of license, so that his consent to all legal 
proceedings might the more easily be obtained. 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. J I 

The truth is, that about Perry's time, political 
affairs in Japan had become thoroughly run down. 
The samurai were rapidly degenerating into a herd 
of voluptuous imbeciles. Feudal customs had be- 
come completely worn out. The country was well 
prepared for a change. I have frequently been in- 
formed by Japanese that the patriotic portion of 
Japan had already become disgusted at the fright- 
ful corruption of their country, and were solicitous 
for speedy reformation. And. it was this under- 
current of liberalism that forced the conservative 
element to open the country to foreign intercourse. 
This accounts for the marvelous reaction against 
all ancient political institutions that has so aston- 
ished us Western people. For you must remember 
that the Japanese still cling to most of their social 
institutions ; and they will continue to do so for 
generations. 

Now as to your next question, concerning ad- 
ministrative regulations in old times, it will be 
rather difficult to convey a very definite idea. The 
first course served up in a French revolution is a 
new constitution. But this country has never been 
blessed with this modern invention, as it has been 
characterized. The legacy of Iyeyas, which in 
many respects was a dead letter, consisted mostly 
of directions for regulating the succession of the 
Tokugawa house, and of a few general admonitions 
for the management of public affairs. Theoreti- 
cally, the Shogun (Tycoon, we call him), was the 
prime minister of the invisible emperor (Mikado, 



72 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

we call him), at Kioto, to whom he did homage for 
perpetual lease of unlimited royal power. And he, 
in turn, exacted homage from the Daimios for an- 
nual lease of provincial power revocable at pleasure. 
He stood as a sort of go-between betwixt the 
phenix car and the Daimios. The emperor must 
not be contaminated by vulgar bickerings with the 
masses. That piece of drudgery must be performed 
by his head servant, the Shogun. It was his duty 
to keep peace within the realm in the name of his 
master. He must govern the people. He must 
furnish his Imperial Majesty with proper guards, 
and appoint proper officers to see that the revenues 
of the Province of Yamashiro were duly devoted to 
keeping up the simplicity of the imperial court. 

While the Shogun was thus supposed to be busy- 
ing himself with the secular affairs of the realm at 
Yeddo, the inmates of the Gosho in Kioto were 
supposed to be wrapped in the sublimest indiffer- 
ence to administrative affairs, being in a kind of 
imperial Nirvana, if you please. They would, how- 
ever, occasionally notice the petitions of their head 
servant for some title or rank to be conferred on 
some worthy subject. Such was the theory. 

Practically, however, the emperor was kept under 
a polite but most unrelenting surveillance. A bare 
pittance wherewith to keep up a skeleton court 
within a few acres of enclosed ground was doled 
forth to him at tardy intervals by the officers. He 
was respectfully but strictly guarded by Aidzu, the 
most zealous Tokugawa clan. And the Shogun 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. 73 

bothered himself so little about his Imperial Ma- 
jesty that he spent all his time in Yeddo, three 
hundred and fifteen miles to the north-east, and 
they are reported to have paid their homage per- 
sonally to the emperor only about once a century. 

So closely was the emperor confined that his 
person was never seen by any one outside of his 
family. In fact, the position was so void of prerog- 
atives, and possessed so few attractions, that it 
became by no means a rare custom for an emperor 
to resign his office, and, investing his infant son 
with the empty titles, retire to one of the superb 
monasteries in the mountains surrounding Kioto, 
where he could at least see something of the world. 

Thus it was that the Tokugawas, giving but nom- 
inal deference to the fountain of honors, grasped 
the administrative power, and bullied their subor- 
dinates to their hearts' content. Like all central- 
ized power, however, their authority over the 
Daimiates gradually became dissipated. Satsuma, 
Chosiu, and Tosa, were permitted to do pretty 
nearly what they chose. And soon each prince, so 
long as he paid his regular homage and tribute, 
held almost unlimited sway over his Daimiate. 
Each one had his palace in Yeddo in charge of 
some near relative. 

Passing now to the respective provinces we find 
that the administrative power was almost entirely 
in the hands of the samurai class. These are the 
double-sworded gentlemen that we see so often 
represented in Japanese pictures. They were, in 



74 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

theory, bound body and soul to the interests of 
their lord. To disobey him was the highest crime. 
They were to gird him round with a living wall, 
standing betwixt him and every danger. In return 
for these services he was to distribute among them 
annual pensions of so many bushels of rice apiece. 
They never worked at manual occupations. Their 
only business was to attend on the prince. They 
were the aristocrats of the realm. The swords they 
carried were typical of their genteel and chivalrous 
breeding. The sons of samurai, during their in- 
fancy, would carry wooden ones. When fourteen 
years old, at which age they reached their majority, 
they would receive a pair of genuine ones. This 
day was made one of festivity, and all the family 
friends sent in their congratulations. The young 
man was now admitted to the counsels of his elders, 
and was treated with all becoming deference. The 
next thing was to try the temper of the blades. 
And until this was accomplished the youth was 
nearly wild. The first hack would usually find its 
way into some luckless dog roaming about the yard. 
The bodies of criminals also furnished much prac- 
tice. The executioners also tested the edges by 
taking off heads. Should dogs and criminals be 
scarce, however, a night's loafing in the dark streets 
generally furnished a victim. When a samurai 
appeared on the street he must always wear his 
swords. It would have been a serious breach of 
etiquette not to have done so. The samurai were 
haughty and brave. They cultivated the most 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TLMES LN JAPAN. 75 

pleasing politeness. They were very sensitive, and 
very easy to take offense. They would instantly 
draw their swords upon any one insulting them. 
But toward the mercantile people and the peasan- 
try they were very overbearing. A peasant was 
once slain on the spot for splashing some mud upon 
a samurai. If a peasant laughed at a samurai he 
would be cut down instantly. The lower classes 
always passed these gentlemen with averted faces 
and downcast eyes. If one samurai was rude to 
another one a duel followed. Therefore, when two 
samurai met they tried to outdo each other in 
politeness, so as to avoid giving the least cause for 
offense. I have seen four of these gentlemen take 
nearly five minutes to get out of a door. Each one 
wanted the other one to step out first. The exces- 
sive politeness that we notice in the Japanese is the 
product of feudal times. A typical samurai was 
courteous toward his friends, haughty toward for- 
eigners, vindictive and merciless toward his foes, 
hasty and furious in his temper, recklessly brave in 
combat ; sly, treacherous, and cunning in politics ; 
easy, lazy, and licentious in private life, and a 
prodigal boon companion, socially considered. He 
had no well-grounded principles. He was fickle 
and unreliable. A samurai must always avenge in- 
sult with blood. If he could not assassinate his 
enemy he would often slay himself by the famous 
stomach -cut, or hara-kiri. A strong-minded 
Daimio would have found himself at the head of a 
dangerous and serviceable body of men, and would 



j6 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

have been a most arbitrary dictator. But, as was 
before intimated, the head families of the clan 
usually managed to absorb all favor and power, and 
the Daimio became a myth, while the pampered 
samurai merged into a parasitical condition of will- 
fulness and indolence, having frequent duels, and 
rendering the immediate vicinity of the castle de- 
cidedly dangerous after nightfall. Many a morning 
has dawned upon the mangled remains of some be- 
lated peasant, whose body had served admirably for 
testing the temper of some lawless blades. Redress 
in such cases was almost impossible. 

It thus became a matter of vital importance for 
the head families to keep possession of the person 
of the prince, so as to give legality to all proceed- 
ings. As the Shogun guarded the emperor, so 
these samurai guarded the Daimio. And the mass- 
ive Tenshiuswere quite as much for preserving this 
legal seal from sudden factions of rivals as from the 
unexpected inroads of the enemy. 

The legislative and judicial departments, as we 
understand the terms, can not be said to have ex- 
isted in the Japanese feudal system. There was 
no legislative body at all. The law of the land was 
the will of the prince modified by the influence of 
his chief retainers. Like most semi-civilized so- 
cieties, the common law was very simple ; and was 
not enshrined in elaborate treatises and reports, like 
our voluminous system, that requires years of per- 
sistent application to fully grasp. The principles 
of the feudal code were decidedly primitive. In 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. J J 

the first place, whatever conflicted with the prince's 
will must be wrong, and was not to be tolerated. 
In the second place, there must not be the slightest 
manifestation of disobedience from subordinates, 
for this would be the grossest of misdemeanors. 
In the third place, existing customs, when not con- 
flicting with the above, were to be duly respected 
and adopted as the common standard of adjudica- 
tion. Finally, the opinion of the presiding Yaku- 
nin, or magistrate, must be decisive in all cases left 
to judicial discretion. And from his decision an 
appeal was practically impossible. 

In this primitive condition of society, where legal 
complexity could hardly be said to exist, — and 
where, if it did, it could be easily severed by the 
will of a single individual, — you can readily perceive 
that it required no very great amount of accumu- 
lated lore to fit a man for passing judgment. Al- 
most any young samurai could mete out what little 
justice there was to be doled forth to the harmless, 
simple people of the provincial towns and villages. 
A fair amount of self-confidence — (and these gen- 
tlemen were rarely found wanting in that article) — ■ 
and a knowledge of local customs, quite fitted any 
young blade for the position of Yakunin. 

The term " Yakunin " conveys but a faint im- 
pression to the Saxon mind. But to the native 
intellect it is the embodiment of legal majesty. He 
everywhere stands forth as the executor of the 
royal will, the inexorable administrator of the un- 
written law. The mountain boor of Mino, or the 



J& LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

mud-bespattered peasant of Echigo, may have but 
hazy notions of the invisible power within the dis- 
tant imperial moats of Yamashiro, but he finds a 
tangible something about the ubiquitous Yakunin 
that is impossible to be ignored. The presence of 
one of these magistrates is indispensable in all pub- 
lic actions. It is he that sees that the environ- 
ments of the castle are properly cared for. He 
keeps the avenues, roads, and bridges, in repair — 
impressing peasants, if necessary, for the work. 
He regulates tariffs upon the highways, furnishing 
horses and coolies at standard prices. He collects 
the revenues. He punishes offenders. He guards 
the prisons. He keeps up a correspondence with 
the friendly provinces, and takes endless pains to 
make hostile ones as uncomfortable as possible. 
He receives envoys and presents them to the prince 
with due formality. He escorts. He spies out 
traitors. He sponges with consummate grace, and 
eats his master's rice with gratitude exquisite to 
behold. By my troth ! it will be difficult to find 
anything of a public nature of which a Yakunin is 
not, in some way, a prime ingredient. Is there an 
obscure mountain village that needs — or rather, 
does not need — a magistrate ? Zounds ! he again 
turns up quite equal to the emergency. Does my 
lord desire to make an excursion to some hot 
springs? It is the Yakunin that arranges all pre- 
liminaries. He goes on ahead to order the people 
to remain in their houses when the princely nori- 
mon comes down the street. He sees that proper 



A GLIMPSE OF OLD FEUDAL TIMES IN JAPAN. Jg 

deference is shown by the coarse-minded masses. 
He secures all the best rooms in the hotels, bund- 
ling out all the occupants thereof. Is there a civil 
commotion in the streets ? Behold ! the indefati- 
gable, double-sworded exponent of the royal will 
comes swaggering along, significantly grasping his 
hilt, and orders a dispersion of the crowd with a 
wave of his fan. 

If you desire to see the atomic beauties of this 
apparently indispensable office, go to a little ham- 
let of two families, near Tsuruga, in Echizen. It is 
needless to say that the sire of one of these per- 
forms the duties of a Yakunin, diligently attending 
to the welfare of the community and seeing that 
the public receive no hurt. 

But a truce to this. The night is well spent, and 
our hand wearies. We have taken our glimpse of 
a state of society that has existed a thousand 
years. Imbecile figure-heads now no longer are 
made to spurn the advances of outside " barbari- 
ans." S'emi-barbaric cavalcades of samurai no 
longer follow their princes in stately procession 
along the somber avenues that wind through the 
empire. The horde of parasites that formerly 
flocked about the palace has been turned adrift, 
while my noble lord has been summoned to Tokio, 
where he may be more directly under the imperial 
eye. His Daimiate has been surrendered to the im- 
perial government ; and he is allowed, as a recom- 
pense, one-tenth of the revenues of his former prov- 
ince. 



80 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

The speeding years are dismantling the moated 
turrets. The water lilies bloom upon the stagnant 
ponds. Where once the lotus flowers brooded on 
the murky waters of the moats, the bulrushes and 
the reeds now afford shelter for the sedgebird's 
nest. The autumnal leaves have accumulated upon 
the grassy lawns. The dragons and the bronze 
fishes keep solitary vigils over the crumbling ram- 
parts. For the lord of the estate has gone forth ; 
the turbulent retainers have dispersed, and the som- 
ber pines mournfully communing with the winter 
gales, regret the pageantry of former years. 
Truly yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 



fl p 




Jf ff 


si 




1 



OUR POSTAL SERVICE. 



LETTER VI. 

A FEW IDEAS ABOUT LIFE IN THE INTERIOR. 

Hirosaki, September 10, 1874. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

In your last letter you asked many questions 
about my life here in the interior; how I spent my 
time ; what kind of a house I am living in ; what 
sort of school-buildings we have ; and what class 
of scholars are under me. 

Let me begin with a description of my house. 
It is a well-built, double-storied, Japanese dwelling, 
that was formerly used by one of the relations of 
the Daimio. The exterior is not very prepossess- 
ing; for your true Jap, however dainty he may 
be about the interior arrangements of his man- 
sion, appears to have rather indifferent ideas about 
external show. You can never judge of the afflu- 
ence of a family by outside finish. One great 
beauty about a native house is that you need hardly 
any furniture. The picturesquely papered walls 
and shojees, together with the neatly polished ceil- 
ings, make the general appearance so pretty that 
much furniture would only mar the effect. The 
house is splendid in summer time. But during 
6 



82 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

these severe northern winters it is very difficult to 
keep warm. I, of course, have tables and chairs. 

My yard is also thoroughly Japanese. It is sur- 
rounded by a closely woven reed fence and is quite 
secluded. I frequently invite my visitors out here. 
My left-hand neighbor is a samurai turned photo- 
grapher. He learned his profession in Yokohama, 
and is able to turn out a very fair picture. My 
right-hand neighbor is a merchant who has bought 
out the titles and estates of an impoverished 
samurai. 

The school-building is some three hundred feet 
back of my house. It was formerly used by the 
retainers of the Daimio. In reality it is a long 
shambling line of barracks ; somewhat better, how- 
ever, than the usual run of such structures. It cost 
about twelve hundred dollars ; cheap enough from 
our stand-point, but rather expensive from a native's, 
the cost of whose humble domicile does not often 
exceed four hundred. The large school-room is 
furnished with benches, tables, maps, globes, and 
black-boards. A large stove stands guard at my 
end of the room. The floor is bare but well 
polished. Light is admitted through a series of 
glass window's arranged along the side of the room. 
Their transparency furnishes an inexhaustible fund 
of astonishment to the country folks. The adjoin- 
ing room contains a small library and a few mathe- 
matical instruments. Beyond this room is the 
dining-room, which you will find to be well satu- 
rated with the odor of salt radish, rice, and fish. 






A FEW IDEAS ABOUT LIFE IN THE INTERIOR. 83 

Beyond this again, extends a long series of rooms 
for the boarding scholars. Then come the offices 
of the directors. 

On the whole, after seeing the miserable villages 
that line the road from Awomori, you will be posi- 
tively surprised at the really academic appearance of 
the institution. From a native stand-point, these 
are exceedingly liberal arrangements. The accom- 
modations are the best in the city. The situation 
is the most aristocratic, being upon the edge of the 
outer moat, and the furniture seems quite elabo- 
rate to a native. The school is supported by the 
ex-Daimio. You cannot help admiring the endeav- 
ors of this people to obtain learning. The scholars 
number about eighty. They are all the sons of 
samurai ; common folks do not yet frequent the 
school. When you get acquainted with the boys, 
you find them a sharp set of youths. The first time 
I entered the school-room they all seemed alike, 
and I was much puzzled to know how to dis- 
tinguish them. I found them all very polite and 
very attentive to their duties. Their ages averaged 
sixteen. Their style of learning differs somewhat 
from ours. They adopt the Chinese style of com- 
mitting everything to memory. A boy will ac- 
curately repeat a whole page, and yet have but 
little idea of its meaning. I have great trouble in 
breaking them of this habit. In studying they 
raise a tremendous row. Three or four will get 
into the school-room, and rock back and forth upon 
the benches yelling in unison the next day's history 



84 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

lesson. They shout forth sentence by sentence 
until it is learned. Take such a sentence as 
" Caesar, having vanquished Pompey, returned tri- 
umphantly to Rome." They first repeat Caesar 
half-a-dozen times ; then they bawl forth the par- 
ticipial phrase at least a dozen times ; and, finally, 
yell forth the concluding clause with such deafen- 
ing gusto that you might well imagine the immor- 
tal Caesar and a legion of hoodlums at his heels 
were triumphantly announcing the fact that the 
vanquished Pompey had gone below, where fathers- 
in-law cease troubling. 

The foreign teacher in Japan holds rather an 
anomalous position. He is at first disposed to con- 
sider himself merely a pedagogue plying his humble 
avocation for exceedingly lucky wages. But he 
soon finds that he holds a highly respectable posi- 
tion. His house is generally the best in the city, 
and occupies a site where only the relatives of the 
Daimio were formerly permitted to live, and he 
finds himself decidedly the leader of fashion. All 
the scholars pattern after him as closely as possible, 
and receive no small amount of social distinction 
from being under the tuition of a foreigner. The 
head men of the city will be proud to visit and re- 
ceive visits from him. Should he be under govern- 
ment employ at Tokio he is at liberty to call on 
the emperor on New Year's Day. The emperor 
visits the schools frequently. In the early days, 
before he had begun to feel his importance, he 
would listen to examinations, present prizes, and 



A FEIV IDEAS ABOUT LIFE IN THE INTERIOR. 85 

submit to long-winded addresses from the masters 
and directors with commendable patience. And on 
one occasion, in Kioto, he even condescended to 
partake of refreshments offered by one of the 
teachers. 

Whenever I go out for a walk the directors send 
an escort with me. They seem to fear my coming 
to grief at the hands of some fanatical samurai. 
When I first came here, every time I went out for 
a walk about thirty of the scholars would turn out 
with me. They came ostensibly for the exercise, 
but I think they were possessed with a desire to 
cut a swell in their native streets. And so the 
whole crowd would come streaming after me in a 
long procession, bringing the whole town out by 
the din of their clogs. To shake them off appeared 
impossible. I was finally inspired with the idea of 
lengthening my strides to a regular training gait. 
All manfully endeavored to keep up. Away we 
stalked down the main street, across the suburbs, 
through the fields, and down the long avenue that 
stretched toward the mountains. Three or four of 
the stoutest managed to keep up, but we could 
look back over two miles of straggling squads of 
demoralized small boys. The stratagem worked 
like a charm. Thereafter my escort consisted of 
three stout pedestrians. One day my escort being 
tardy, I slipped out alone. Upon my return I 
found the whole board of directors convulsed with 
consternation. They had sent the whole school in 
all directions to hunt me up. One squad didn't 



86 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

get back until near ten o'clock, having, as they rep- 
resented, gone down the extreme length of my 
most extensive walk ; doubtless, however, tarrying 
by the wayside booths to brush dull care away 
with a little sake and fish. My return seemed to 
afford infinite relief. One eagerly inquired whether 
I had received any injury ; another, whether any- 
one had insulted me ; and yet another, whether I 
wasn't afraid of the dogs. They said they were 
afraid of my being cut down by some of the discon- 
tented old-style samurai who were bitter against 
foreigners, believing them to have been instru- 
mental in the abolition of feudalism. My escort 
thereafter was always on time. 

The avenue just spoken of leads to the east 
until it strikes the grand avenue that leads over 
mountain, stream, and plain, until it reaches Tokio 
and ends in Nihon-Bashi. Along this noble high- 
way swept the trains of the Daimios as they passed 
down to do homage to the dread power of the 
Tokugawas at Yeddo. Hither flocked his retainers 
and subjects to bid god-speed to him on his tedious 
journey ; bowing themselves to the ground as his 
stately norimon (sort of palankeen), borne on the 
shoulders of attendants, passed between the sway- 
ing multitudes. Down where the avenue merges 
into the winding mountain road among the foot- 
hills formerly stood the summer villa of his Excel- 
lency. Here his relations and retainers, who were 
not going to accompany him, took their leave, 
sipped the farewell cup, and turned their steps back 



A FE W IDEAS ABOUT LIFE IN THE INTERIOR. 8 J 

to their quiet city and solemn groves, regretting, 
perchance, that they were not to visit the wonders 
of the distant metropolis. 

A melancholy recollection will always linger 
around these stately highways. They are not so 
well kept as of yore. The small pines are ■ fre- 
quently cut down of a dark night by fuel-seekers, 
who dislike to trudge off to the mountains for their 
fagQts, and who would have atoned for their in- 
dolence with their heads in former days, for the 
Daimios took much pride in their roads. 

During the summer afternoons this place forms 
a popular resort for the citizens of Hirosaki. You 
frequently come across large picnic parties holding 
high carnival beneath some spreading tree, or upon 
some swelling knoll where no passing breeze is lost. 
As we pass along, some jolly customer, brimful of 
sake and fish, will rise up from the feast and per- 
form the weird fan-dance, to the delight of his up- 
roarious companions, who applaud and laugh at his 
tipsy flings. Sometimes one of the party will en- 
deavor to absorb the attention of the company by 
singing a song or telling a story, wherein his fath- 
omless shrewdness figures conspicuously. These 
convivial groups frequently remain long after the 
moon has risen, and in the still hours of the 
evening you can hear parties returning from some 
rollicking cruise, hiccough forth barbaric odes that 
make you dream of Chinese horns and Moorish 
conches for the remainder of the night. For you 
must bear in mind that there is nothing like Japan- 



88 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

ese singing, either on the earth, or in the heavens 
above, or in the waters beneath. The operator 
first makes a prolonged hissing sound by drawing 
his breath between his lips. He then closes his 
eyes so tight that you fancy he never intends open- 
ing them again upon this cruel world. Then a 
series of groans and grunts begin to wallow up from 
the depths of his abdominal recesses, finally ex- 
ploding from his mouth in a succession of fiendish 
hoots and yells. In the meantime his contorted 
features loosen and shake themselves out into 
expressions of the most approving and ineffable 
serenity ; while he occasionally claps his hands as 
if forcibly appropriating that applause which he 
certainly ought never otherwise to obtain. 

I shall never forget the first time I heard one of 
these execrable productions of the infernal muse. 
It was on the trip from Hakodate to Awomori. 
As the steamer came to anchor, I went below to 
get my valise. While picking it up, I thought 
some one was speaking. Turning around, I saw a 
raw-boned fisherman in the opening stages of this 
interesting frenzy, and supposed from his agonized 
countenance that he was suffering from an attack 
of seasickness. But he wasn't. He exploded into 
one of his most impassioned strains, making my ears 
fairly tingle. 

Flute playing is also a popular source of recrea- 
tion, and appears to instill the very essence of amia- 
bility into the savage breasts of this neighborhood. 
Four patrons of this divine art, in the immediate 



A FEW IDEAS ABOUT LIFE IN THE INTERIOR. 89 

vicinity of my house, possess as many specimens of 
these sweet little sticks. The melody is a mourn- 
ful strain of unvarying monotony that they appear 
to be never tired of playing. On moonlight nights 
they and I are particularly wakeful. Singing and flute 
playing, with desultory strumming on fiddles, com- 
pletely exhaust the musical genius of this people. 
The opera, the oratorio, the concert, are utterly 
unknown. There is no requesting Miss Tomita or 
Miss Tanaka to afford you the exquisite pleasure 
of seeing her down to hear Parepa or Rubenstein ; 
no inspection of dashing actresses through binocular 
magnifiers ; no formidable array of claw-hammer 
parquets ; no small boy always dodging between 
you and the prima donna ; no steaming and puffing 
while trying to get out ; and no hagglings with 
hackmen after you are out. Blissful primeval sim- 
plicity ! In America the evenings form the favored 
time for brilliant gatherings, but here they are a 
perfect blank. With the setting sun, the doors are 
slid to, and drowsiness or gossiping relaxations end 
the day. 

Between teaching, and walking, and reading my 
home mail, time is well spent. Should ennui, how- 
ever, steal upon me unawares, I sally forth into my 
kitchen to refresh my boy's rather hazy ideas of 
bread-making with a few rather indefinite views of 
my own, which appear to leave him more hopelessly 
perplexed than ever. A boy is an indispensable 
appendage of the Oriental sojourner. It is the boy 
that cooks, washes the dishes, and waits on the 



90 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

table. He makes your bed, and fills your lamps, 
and cleans your room. He looks after your inter- 
ests generally. He will not allow any one to cheat 
you, but always takes a percentage of all money 
passing through his hands, the rate of which will be 
proportioned to the rascality of his nature and the 
carelessness of his master. 

But the specimen that I possess will never be able 
to add much to his income, for the simple reason 
that he lacks the cleverness for cheating, and barely 
possesses the requisite amount of intelligence for 
chewing rice. It was only after much difficulty 
that his services could be procured, for the people 
here are rather timid about foreigners. He set his 
wages at five dollars per month ; and I made no ob- 
jection. From this income, he supports a wife, and 
is able to sport a pair of woolen drawers, to the no 
small envy of his former associates who are com- 
pelled to ply their daily avocations minus that 
delectable article of apparel. 

My boy has very vague ideas about foreign styles 
of cooking. To begin, he thinks it useless to wash 
his hands before kneading up the dough. I am in- 
flexibly of the contrary opinion. As to ever wash- 
ing out the dish-wiper, why, that's pure fogyism ! 
He considers it an absurd piece of foreign fastid- 
iousness to beat up the whites of the eggs before 
mixing with the sugar and flour. My own views 
as to the necessity of this proceeding not being very 
clear, I am not prepared to convict him on this 
point. Therefore I refer the matter for your deci- 



A FEW IDEA S ABOUT LIFE IN THE INTERIOR. 9 1 

sion ; for I am by no means disposed to give slavish 
deference to the recipe. 

He roasts a fowl quite fairly, but he hasn't the 
least idea as to how stuffing is made. Neither have 
I. His omelets are passable, that is to say, would 
not be taken for soap. It is on sponge cake, how- 
ever, that he prides himself. But it is fair to paren- 
thetically remark that his master is not particularly 
elated with his proficiency in this branch of cuisine 
accomplishment. Nevertheless I must modestly 
intimate that this cake is quite palatable when I 
chance to assist in its concoction. Otherwise, he 
appears to exert some fell influence over its proper 
development. He takes a melancholy satisfaction 
in having the top sag down like the crater of a vol- 
cano. Now I would not be fastidious about the 
shape, provided this depression did not reduce the 
interior to the flavor and consistency of leather. I 
am fully convinced that he slaps all the ingredients 
together into a dish and then shoves it into an oven. 

The first loaf of bread seemed to give his honest 
heart genuine satisfaction as he came grinning into 
my study with it in his hands. I told him to cut 
me a slice. His knife slipped hopelessly off the 
crust. He finally got it apart by driving the meat 
knife perpendicularly through the center and bear- 
ing heavily against the handle, making some artless 
remarks meanwhile about its being somewhat kattai 
(tough). The inside was as yellow as a carrot. I 
intimated that the color wasn't exactly orthodox ; 
and that adamantine inflexibility was not considered 



92 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

a requisite of the staff of life. I condescended, 
however, to initiate his unenlightened mind into 
the mysteries of this science by making three or 
four loaves myself, and was able, with comparative 
ease, to turn out some very fair specimens of brick- 
bats. We mutually agreed to give it up as a bad 
job, and I fell back upon the crackers in my store- 
box. 

His ideas of coffee-making were also based upon 
erroneous conceptions of the art. His first efforts 
resulted in a complicated emulsion that failed to 
pass muster, or my throat. I told him to put an 
egg into it next time, for that would settle the 
grounds. The following morning a long, sooty jet 
of liquid streamed from the nozzle into my cup. 
He looked perplexed, and began scratching his 
head, muttering something about yukinai (not 
right). The cover was lifted, and lo! the unbroken 
egg, boiled to a flint ! Considerable explanation 
convinced him of the propriety of breaking the egg 
into the grounds before pouring on the hot water. 

I have occasion to feel devoutly thankful that I 
am not dependent on him for my living. If I allow 
him to discontinue his coffee-making for three days 
he invariably forgets the recipe, and brings in on 
the fourth a mixture much resembling tar, both as 
to flavor and consistency. If I permit him to dis- 
continue cake-making for a week he produces a batch 
of cookies that would infallibly bring tears to the 
eyes of a frisky crocodile. And as to his griddle- 
cakes ! Pitiful Zeus! They are so elastic that the 



A FE IV IDEA S ABO UT LIFE IN THE INTERIOR. 93 

Supreme Court and Amphictyonic Council com- 
bined could sit thereon without leaving the least 
impression. 

About once a month he is smitten with an unac- 
countable ambition to tickle his indulgent master's 
palate with some new dish. It is impossible to 
imagine from what source these combinations of 
culinary genius take their rise. He usually spends 
about two hours over these inspired stews. I am 
invariably forewarned of their debut by about an 
hour of deafening hissing and sizzling in the region 
of the kitchen, combined with a powerful odor, 
compared with which garlic and boiled cabbage 
would be ethereal and delicate perfumes. He then 
slides back the s/iojec, and, with a face wriggling 
with ecstatic subjective approval, hopes the danna- 
san (master) will condescend to try a trifling variety 
in cooking that his unworthy servant has had the 
presumption to innovate. The danna-san tries to 
smile a melancholy approval. But when the in- 
spired prodigy has gone out, the heartless danna- 
san throws half of the mess into the yard to be eaten 
by the crows, leaving the remainder to be eaten by 
the precious inventor. The crows eye the mixture 
with considerable suspicion before bolting it. And 
for the next two or three hours I fancy myself able 
to detect a certain listlessness in their deportment, 
as if they were suffering from indigestion, — if it be 
possible to conceive of anything disagreeing with a 
crow. 

I would not part with this boy for a number of 



94 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

reasons. In the first place, it would be impossible 
to find another one in the province to take his 
place. Secondly, although he knows nearly as 
much about cooking as I do, yet he knows more 
than the whole province combined. And it would 
take at least a year to instill his concentrated knowl- 
edge of the subject into a new customer. Finally, 
I might go wild with ennui had I not his diversions 
to amuse me. I gain a splendid idea of the utter 
ignorance of this people concerning our civilized 
notions of living ; and also a practical knowledge of 
their charming primitive simplicity as regards meth- 
ods of reinvigorating the inner man. His meals 
are very simple. He merely throws a couple of 
handfuls of rice into some water, and allows it to 
boil until cooked. He then falls to, and chokes it 
down with a couple of sticks, ever and anon nibbling 
a piece of salt-radish. In eating his mouth works 
like an ungreased pump, making noise enough to be 
heard in my study. And yet his system is un- 
doubtedly more complicated than Adam's. The 
revered progenitor of our unfortunate race doubt- 
less never took the trouble to boil his vegetables. 
And he probably hadn't the remotest conception of 
the chop-sticks used by this portion of his fallen 
posterity, finding his fingers quite handy for stuff- 
ing down raw chops, and easily cleaned by sucking 
and rubbing through his hair. And as to washing 
his hands before indulging in culinary freaks, he 
would probably have shaken hands with his de- 
graded descendant. And as for beating up eggs 



A FEW IDEAS ABOUT LIFE IN THE INTERIOR. 95 

instead of instantly sucking the ends, — ah ! it is too 
evident we have fallen from the primitive style of 
preparing chow-chow. 

But, in addition to my boy, I find my spare time 
well taken up in defeating the machinations of my 
neighbors' cat and dog. The former animal, in 
particular, I view with hostile emotions. One day 
my boy and I, after uniting our combined skill and 
intelligence, were able to produce a dish somewhat 
resembling chicken pot-pie. 'Tis true the resem- 
blance was not remarkably striking ; still we flattered 
ourselves that we had done a pretty good thing, 
although the pastry did look like distress. While 
anticipating a second delicious meal off this dish 
my combination of chief butler and baker suddenly 
announced that a certain bob-tail cat had entered 
the cupboard in some mysterious manner, and had 
feloniously absconded with the remnants. My first 
proposition was to shoot the cat ; and, with the in- 
tent of carrying out my deadly designs, I began 
unpacking the accumulation of dust and rust from 
the chambers of my revolver. But when the direc- 
tors heard that I was lying in wait with deliberate 
intent to annihilate the vile transgressor, they were 
greviously agitated and begged me to desist, inas- 
much as it might frighten the people, and as it was 
against the local laws. The firing of a shot would 
probably form an epoch in the history of the neigh- 
borhood. The immediate community would take 
some weeks to finish comparing notes as to the 
volume and quality of the report, and the inimical 



96 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

character of the agent. Taking heed of their ad- 
monitions, I thereupon inserted some acetate of 
lead and white vitriol into sundry pieces of meat, 
and, with savage exultation, saw the animal walk 
off with them. But to my infinite disgust, the 
brute called around next day for more. But he 
quit coming after that, and the curtain falls upon 
his further history. 

The dog lives two doors off. From my first ap- 
pearance he took a violent antipathy to my person, 
and I have never been to much trouble to dissi- 
pate that prejudice. Should he happen to be 
outside when I appear on the road he instantly 
springs into position behind the fence, and com- 
mences a furious attack by barking up and down 
behind, occasionally venturing to seize it between 
his teeth, and shake it violently ; creating the im- 
pression, as we poor mortals are sometimes wont to 
do, that but for this impediment wonderful things 
might be accomplished. On one occasion he unin- 
tentionally threw himself against a weak place, and 
came tumbling through into the road. It was 
interesting to notice the rapidity with which he 
resumed his former position. 

Another idiosyncrasy of his is to gnaw holes 
through my reed fence and tear up the flowers, 
and root around generally. My boy then goes out 
and claps his hands at him and says " Shoo / 
Chickshaw ! " (Begone ! Beast ! ) Whereupon the 
dog wags his tail and continues operations in the 
most jocular frame of mind imaginable, until he 



A FEW IDEAS ABOUT LIFE IN THE INTERIOR. 9 J 

sees the ominous shadow of a top-boot sailing 
through the air, when he suspends operations long 
enough to carry it off. His partiality to my yard 
increases in direct proportion to my murderous as- 
saults upon his person. He spends as much of his 
time here as he can. On one occasion he came 
near creating a complicated legal discussion by bit- 
ing another man's pig that had meandered near my 
veranda. He sometimes invites in two or three of 
his chums to help him in his horticultural pursuits. 
He also comes here to fight out his duels. The 
furious combatants paw up the soft loam, and 
leave the yard like the field of Waterloo. 

All dogs up here' have a wolfish propensity for 
howling at night. They have a great variety of 
tones, and rising and falling inflections. This dog 
appears to be a kind of chorister. His companions 
seem to regard his voice as something uncommonly 
fine. Now this canine nightingale invariably trains 
his band just beside my window at midnight, ap- 
parently considering night air specially suited for 
this purpose. His enthusiastic efforts usually rouse 
ambition in the emulous breasts of- two or three 
other band-masters in the vicinity ; and they rout 
out their classes and start up opposition. These 
songsters then exchange challenges, and have a 
grand fight, and in the morning I wake to find 
my ink jug and fourteen tin cans lying around the 
yard, while the boy's clogs have been driven through 
the fence into the side of my neighbor's house. 

" But he still lives. Aye, lives, and confronts me 
7 



98 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

daily " with a knowing wink whenever I appear 
outside. After all, his machinations lack the 
malicious audacity of the cat. I permit him to 
exist. Betwixt him and my unhung chief baker, I 
shall be able to worry out my contract here. I 
shall not renew it. The loneliness is too sepulchral. 
Thanks to Fred, I have a good offer at Tokio that 
I shall accept. The monotony of life in the interior 
is extremely wearing. Up at seven, breakfast at 
eight, school from nine to three, allowing an hour 
for dinner, and reading and walking to finish the 
day. There you have it in a nut-shell. To pursue 
the same routine, to sit down to meals alone, to 
have no healthy excitement for the mind for 
months, will be a strong test for the most elastic 
minds. In the first six months you finish all your 
investigations. The novelty gives you mental tone. 
But after that, you come to your rope's end, and 
it will be well for your soul if you possess sufficient 
moral ambition and elevation of spirit to avoid the 
foul example of the majority of those living inland, 
who, when they depart, leave an unfortunate prog- 
eny to drag out a degraded existence. 

I hope you will not feel shocked at my allusions 
to this subject in my letters, for it is the chief 
characteristic of foreign life in Japan. I shall al- 
ways handle the subject without ceremony or 
mercy. Would that I could blot out this hateful 
stain upon our civilization ! Write soon. 
Truly yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 




MAYEBARA ; TYPICAL OLD-STYLE SAMURAI ; BEHEADED IN 1876 FOR 
FOMENTING REBELLION IN CHOSHIU. 

{Native Photograph.) 



LETTER VII. 

A TRAGEDY. 

Hirosaki, October 14, 1874. 

Dear Julius Marcellus : 

Your letter inquiring about the terrible murder 
of the German Consul at Hakodate came duly to 
hand. I shall devote this letter to a description of 
it. The facts in the case are derived partly from 
personal observation, partly from my interpreter, 
partly from Mr. Hawes, the American Consul in 
Hakodate, who was present at the trial and exe- 
cution of the assassin, and partly from the con- 
fessions of the assassin himself in court. 

During the month of August, the directors al- 
lowed a vacation. I decided to spend it in 
Hakodate, and consequently set off from Hirosaki 
in the latter part of July. One of my scholars was 
to form my escort, for the authorities still seemed 
to fear for my personal safety ; and before I re- 
turned to my duties I was convinced that their 
apprehensions were well grounded. They thor- 
oughly understood their countrymen. 

The summers in this province are very hot, so 
we started off at dawn, while the dew was yet rest- 
ing on the fields, and when the town was just 



I OO LE TTERS FROM JAP A N. 

beginning to stir. The scenery differed much 
from that of my previous ride in March. Instead 
of sleet, slush, and a shivering population, we had 
green fields and a hot and dusty road : — the chil- 
dren were naked ; the men had merely a rag 
around their waists ; and the women were stripped 
down to their girdles. We reached Awomori at 
dusk. After five months of mediaeval existence 
the sight of telegraphic wires was exhilarating. We 
went over the straits by moonlight. The water 
was almost perfectly smooth, being merely ruffled 
a little by the strong current in mid-channel. In 
summer this northern scenery is enchanting. The 
lofty crests of distant Iwa-ki-san, the well-wooded 
promontories that plow half way through the 
straits, the chiseled cones of Yesso, and the lights 
glimmering around the shores, form a glimpse of 
matchless landscape that I love to conjure up in 
my lonelier hours. Looking down the vista of the 
future, we brush away the fishing hamlets and 
squalid huts, and girt the lovely shores with 
elegant villas and palatial mansions of millionaires 
from Tokio and gouty bankers from Sendai, who, 
as Saturday night comes round, leave the bustling 
marts and take the Northern Express for Awomori 
to see their families summering round the bay. 

We reached Hakodate at dawn. This is the 
last place in Japan to be selected as the scene for a 
tragedy. From times when the memory of man 
ceaseth to hold, it has been booked as a place fit 
for exiles and spirits destitute of ambition. It is 



A TRAGEDY. IOI 

vaguely reported that sundry rollicking tars from 
off Perry's squadron, during its cruise nearly 
twenty years ago, had a spree and came to blows 
with the natives. However that may be, Hako- 
date now can register one event which, taken with 
all its circumstances of barbarous atrocity and 
appalling suddenness, stands without parallel in 
the history of the Treaty Ports. 

There lived in Akitah, the province just south of 
Awomori, a young samurai of a somewhat morose 
disposition. In the good old days when the 
Daimios supported legions of retainers, the family 
of this youth managed to live with some degree 
of style, being able to considerably elevate their 
heads above the peasantry. Under this auspicious 
state of society, our young warrior was duly 
educated in all that pertained to feudal military 
lore. He could dream over the charming pros- 
pect of future ease, with the prospect of a fat 
Yakunin-ship looming up beyond. But the for- 
eigner came and brought trouble and revolution. 
The southern princes warred against the northern 
princes and prevailed ; and, in accordance with the 
ideas of the foreigner, the old order of things was 
abolished and the centralized imperial government 
was instituted, to the boundless disgust of thousands 
of samurai thus cast adrift. Some of them in- 
herited sufficient property to live in comparative 
style ; some held sinecures under the government ; 
while many of the less favored were compelled to 
resort to manual labor, and the papers would 



102 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

sometimes announce how a whole family had been 
found starved to death, being too ignorant to per- 
form any kind of mental work, and too haughty to 
lift a finger at any other. To illustrate the extreme 
contempt in which labor is held, in my walks 
around Hirosaki I frequently met men whose faces 
were disguised with towels. Upon inquiry, I was 
informed that they were poor samurai returning 
from their work in the rice-fields, and that they 
were so mortified at their occupation that they did 
not wish to be recognized in public. 

Now, our hero was poor and proud. He earned 
his living for two or three years by teaching the 
old native literature, which, by the way, is intensely 
anti-foreign in its sentiments, and abounds in glow- 
ing exhortations to the young men of the country 
to be patriotic and adhere to pure old Japanese 
institutions. These exhortations were illustrated 
by thrilling stories of devoted youth flinging away 
their lives pro bono publico. He brooded over 
these wild precepts and legends, and thoroughly 
imbibed their spirit of animosity toward foreigners. 
This contributed to sour a temper already short of 
the original allowance of amiability. About this 
time he caught his first glimpse of a foreigner — a 
red-headed sailor pumping out a small ship that 
had put into the coast from stress of weather, 
whereupon his contempt for the " yellow-haired 
beasts " from the west increased immeasurably. 
In addition to this, he was galled by the taunts of 
his comrades for having sneaked out of the civil 



A TRAGEDY. IO3 

war some three years before, for it came out dur- 
ing the course of the trial that he had shirked the 
battles of the revolution by feigning sickness. This 
teasing does not appear to have sweetened him at 
all. 

But the hardest blow of all came when the study 
of the English language was introduced into his 
native town, quite drawing away all his own pupils. 
It was bad enough to be plagued with the foreign 
customs that were being gradually innovated, but 
to lose his means of support by the introduction of 
the barbarian literature, was a stroke beyond his 
endurance. Starvation or manual labor seemed to 
be the only choice. He would face neither! He 
would go to some of the Treaty Ports and slay one 
of these interloping dogs, and then die, producing 
a sensation at least. He would thus escape a long 
life of drudgery and poverty ; his town's- folk would 
regard him as a patriot, — a true, old-style lover of 
his country, — and he would be able to redeem his 
not very brilliant reputation as a warrior. The 
idea took complete possession of him, and he re- 
solved to carry it out. His entire worldly posses- 
sions, when turned into money, amounted to thir- 
teen dollars. With this in his pocket, and his 
sword in his belt, he embarked on a junk bound for 
Hakodate. Nobody appears to have been aware of 
his intention. 

Arriving at his destination in due course of sail- 
ing, he took up his quarters in a hotel in the native 
part of the town. On the following day he saw a 



1 04 LET TERS FROM J A PAN. 

large, bearded foreigner walking in the streets. As 
he carried a stout walking-stick, however, opera- 
tions were postponed. On the next day he saw 
several more, but he considered the odds of war 
still doubtful, as they were provided with um- 
brellas. On the third day he went up to the temple 
of the god of war to propitiate success. This 
temple is situated some distance up the mountain 
side, and commands a superb view for many miles 
of all the roads leading out of Hakodate. His 
case was desperate, for he had spent all his money 
in debauch. He had nerved himself up for his 
work with abundance of rice-beer or whiskey. If 
you were to stand beside the swarded embankment 
that bounds the courtyard of this temple, your eye 
would follow the winding road that leads out of the 
city, up by the temple, and, then turning to the 
right, passes through a lonely hedged lane down 
toward the desolate sea-coast. About half-past five 
o'clock in the afternoon, a little man — minus um- 
brella or cane — walked briskly down the road and 
entered the fatal lane. But our warrior has al- 
ready spied his victim. He waits until he has 
turned the angle, and then follows. From his own 
confessions, it appears that he had some doubts as 
to whether this was a genuine foreigner or simply 
a native dressed in foreign style. He therefore 
asked two women whether that man they had just 
passed was a Japanese or not. One said " Yes ; " 
the other, " No." He then went nearer and flung 
his umbrella at the doubtful party so as to get him 



A TRAGEDY. IO5 

to turn around. The gentleman turned and re- 
proved him for his rudeness, and then went on. 
The dastard instantly unsheathed his sword and 
gave a fearful downward cut upon the shoulder, 
close up to the neck. Then the little German ran 
down the lane some two hundred yards, and, push- 
ing open a heavy gate in the hedge, ran up the hill- 
side some distance. He then fell on his face in a 
garlic patch, either from loss of blood or from trip- 
ping in a sunken tub containing manure for the 
garden. The pursuer was instantly upon him and 
hacked him to pieces, cleaving his head into four 
parts, severing both arms at the elbows, both legs 
at the knees, and inflicting frightful gashes all over 
the body. It was the common talk in Hakodate 
that he left a mark for each year of his own age, — 
twenty-three. He then ordered the terrified gar- 
dener out of his house to dash a bucket of water 
over the mangled mass, in order to see if life were 
wholly extinct, — as if, indeed, there could be any 
doubt ! He then commanded the trembling man 
to hand him the watch and chain belonging to his 
victim, refusing to defile his own touch. It was 
now well past twilight, and he went and delivered 
himself up to the authorities. He was instantly 
bound. The candles were lit in the court-room, 
the judges took their seats, and the trial began. 
The sword, which was so bent as to be ruined, was 
handed over for safe keeping. Crazed with liquor 
and frenzy, the fellow began rapidly to tell his 
story. The gods had appeared unto him in por- 



106 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

tentous dreams and had urged him to slay foreign- 
ers. In accordance with these behests, he had 
formed the resolve to exterminate the entire alien 
breed within the four seas of the realm. He had 
begun on Hakodate, intending, after having thor- 
oughly purged that polluted hole, to visit the other 
ports with his cleansing brand. The visions gave 
him no peace. While praying at the shrine of the 
god of war that afternoon, the gods singled out his 
victim and delivered him into his hands. He wildly 
gloried over the deed, his fierce eyes flashing with 
hate. He abused all foreigners in unlimited terms, 
but was peremptorily ordered to desist by the 
judges. Somewhat surprised, he became subdued 
and sullen. After the examination had been con- 
cluded he was locked up for the night. 

The trial continued for several weeks. The next 
day the fellow repeated his story with considerable 
enthusiasm. He appeared utterly indifferent as to 
consequences. His manner conveyed the impres- 
sion that he thought the judges would highly ap- 
prove of his conduct after having heard his expla- 
nations. But when the judge coolly informed him 
that not a word of his story relating to the visions 
had been believed, the devoted patriot assumed an 
air of insulted indifference. He denied having any 
accomplices. He refused to answer any questions 
about his previous history. The court then ad- 
journed until a dose of torture had unsealed his 
lips. The method of torture is very painful. The 
culprit kneels upon the blunt edges of half-a-dozen 



A TRAGEDY. 107 

wooden blades. Heavy slabs of stone are then 
laid across his lap. The knees are thus crushed 
and the blades are forced through his shins gradu- 
ally. In the meantime he is beaten with sticks 
covered with cord. 

In appearance, the assassin was tall and athletic. 
His forehead was low. Beneath leered a pair of 
snake-like eyes. His nostrils were broad and flat. 
The thick, licentious lips had a sulky expression, 
betokening a passionate and revengeful disposition. 

As the news flashed through the Settlement that 
evening, it was paralyzing. I was dining with a 
friend of mine, and the report came that the Ger- 
man Consul had cut his throat at a tea-house in a 
fit of insanity. All manner of rumors went around. 
The timid ones saw a complicated conspiracy to 
exterminate foreigners, and slipped their revolvers 
into their pockets; and the knowing ones confi- 
dently intimated that some Akitah merchants, hav- 
ing come out of the little end of the horn in a busi- 
ness transaction with the Consul, had selected a 
fanatic as an instrument for revenge. 

The assassin was finally sentenced to degradation 
from his rank as a samurai, and to decapitation. 
The sentence was carried out in the harshest man- 
ner possible. Only about half an hour elapsed be- 
tween sentence and execution. He attempted to 
say something to the judge, but was unceremoni- 
ously hustled out of the room. He then requested 
permission to write a letter to his family. Permis- 
sion was withheld. Finally, he requested the exe- 



108 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

cutioners to make a clean job of it and not haggle. 
Even this request appears to have been intention- 
ally ignored. One sword struck across his shoul- 
ders. As he fell over on his face, the second blow 
came down upon the back of his head. One of the 
executioners then grasped him by the hair of the 
head and cut his throat. The head does not ap- 
pear to have left his body. He was not executed, 
but ignominiously butchered — perhaps a fitting 
punishment for a dastardly attack upon an inoffen- 
sive stranger from whom the slightest provocation 
had never been received. The only foreign specta- 
tors of this closing scene were the American, Eng- 
lish, and Danish Consuls. From beginning to end 
the deportment of the culprit was defiantly cool. 
He, never flinched, nor showed the least signs of 
terror, although a sickly attempt was made to start 
a sentimental tale of final collapse of pluck just at 
the last moment. He died as the majority of 
criminals die. 

And now I hear you asking whether such cases 
are common ; whether or not this occurrence is 
likely to be repeated? To which I reply that such 
cases are not common, and that I think it will 
never be repeated. Although there are many in 
the interior that bear no good will toward the 
foreigner, yet few will be found to face so igno- 
minious an ordeal. It is but just to remark that 
the majority of samurai are highly mortified at 
this affair. There is considerable chivalry among 
the respectable members of this class, and these 



A TRAGEDY. IO9 

notions of feudal honor will always act as a retard- 
ing force. During the last decade, assassinations 
were quite frequent. In some cases a conservative 
Daimio would order a retainer to steal off to a 
treaty port and kill a foreigner in order to annoy 
the Shogun and bring on a complication with some 
foreign power wherein opportunity might be pre- 
sented for overturning the Shogunate and expelling 
all aliens. In such cases, although the deed might 
be cowardly, yet the delegated party was bound by 
the highest sense of honor to carry out the injunc- 
tions of his lord at all hazards. Another frequent 
cause of assassination resulted from a certain over- 
bearing superciliousness on the part of a certain 
portion of our community that I forbear designat- 
ing by name. A quarrel at a brothel over a favorite 
girl has, on one occasion at least, led to slashes. 
Had foreigners been all they ought to have been, 
from their first entry into Japan, the record of 
bloodshed would be less humiliating to contem- 
plate. 

But times are changed. Daimios no longer com- 
mand hundreds of devoted desperados. The cus- 
toms of outside nations have become better un- 
derstood. And the isolated fanatic, deprived of 
the moral support of a sympathizing clan, and find- 
ing but scanty inspiration from the ancient legends 
that are ignored by his companions who now ad- 
mire the foreign literature, must eke out his inspired 
motives from some extraordinary source before he 
will venture upon the career of an assassin. In 



HO LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

addition to this, the Japanese Government now 
frowns so severely upon this custom, and takes 
such extreme measures in degrading the assassins, 
that there will be few who will venture to brood 
over such schemes. Formerly an assassin was 
allowed to retain his rank, and he was also allowed 
to perform the hara-kiri before having his head 
taken off. The government has now issued decrees 
over the whole empire threatening to visit such 
offenses with the heaviest penalties. This settles 
the question, for this now makes this species of 
gaining notoriety decidedly unpopular. 

Truly yours, 
Theophilus Pratt. 




STREET SCENE IN HIKOSAKI. 



LETTER VIII. 

A FEW REMINISCENCES. 

Hirosaki, November 10, 1874. 

Dear Julius Marcellus : 

I HAVE been much amused lately by the proceed- 
ings of a Roman Catholic priest who has recently 
come to Hirosaki. As I think the facts in the 
case will be interesting to you, I present them in 
full. 

Some weeks ago I was sitting in my room, when 
the directors and several of my senior pupils were 
ushered in. They appeared to be in considerable 
trepidation and excitement. It was some time be- 
fore I could get a connected story. I finally made 
ou.t that a Jesuit priest had entered the city and 
intended to commence proselyting. Now, to you, 
this statement may seem harmless enough. But I 
can assure you that it was a startling episode here. 
The Japanese have by no means a pleasant recol- 
lection of the Jesuits. They can well recall how, 
some three centuries ago, a company of these 
priests came with petitions and humble manners; 
how they ingratiated themselves with the Daimios 
of Kiushiu and gained a favorable hearing at court ; 



I I 2 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

how, as they rapidly increased in wealth and num- 
bers, they changed their tones from meek request 
to arrogant demand, daring even to ignore the will 
of the great Hideyoshi, the generalissimo of the 
realm ; how, as years of prosperity increased their 
pride, they defied the government, built churches 
in Kioto against the imperial decrees, and taught 
the people to disobey their rulers and give alle- 
giance to a foreign potentate at Rome ; how they 
bitterly persecuted the Buddhist ; how they re- 
sisted the temporal authority and plunged the 
nation into a frightful civil war ; and how, before 
the obstinate sect could be extirpated, it became 
necessary to swell the royal ranks to a hundred and 
fifty thousand warriors, and forty thousand lives 
had to be sacrificed. You can hardly wonder that 
a storm of fear and hate sweeps through the native 
breast when such facts are recalled. It is from the 
Jesuits that the Japanese gained their ideas of 
Christianity. And it is the Jesuits we have to 
thank for the closing of the country so long to 
civilization. You can now readily see why the 
advent of this priest caused such a stir among the 
authorities. To their imaginations, this individual 
possessed some power by which he could gain a 
hold upon the ignorant and the superstitious people 
of the town. If he were to make a disturbance in 
the town the displeasure of the government might 
be visited upon them. The case was a novel one 
and left the authorities involved in inextricable be- 
wilderment. But what brought the fellow to 



A FE W REMINISCENCES. I I 3 

Hirosaki in particular, said I ? A very interesting 
disclosure was the result of this question. 

It appeared that a low-grade samurai had left 
Hirosaki and had gone to Tokio soon after the 
revolution. He was shrewd and calculating, and 
was seeking to better his financial condition. In 
Tokio he ran across this priest. He soon became 
a proselyte. He was keen enough to detect here a 
fair method of gaining a livelihood with but little 
exertion. Now the fathers were on the outlook for 
a good opportunity for gaining a foothold in the 
interior. Here was the chance. The young con- 
vert could be immediately available. Application 
was made to the government for a passport to per- 
mit Mr. A. to teach English in the Toogu-Gakko in 
Hirosaki. The man was a Frenchman and under- 
stood almost nothing of English. But what mat- 
tered that ? He was a foreigner, and the proselyte 
testified that he had been engaged to teach in 
Hirosaki. That was sufficient. The passport drawn 
up for a six rrionths' sojourn was duly delivered, 
and the couple started off overland. You can well 
imagine the surprise of the directors to receive a 
notification from Tokio informing them that their 
teacher had started out and would be due in about 
twenty days. The communication was profoundly 
mysterious to them. After a long discussion they 
wrote back that there must be some mistake, for 
they already had their teacher. 

In due time Mr. A. arrived and took up his 
quarters in a hotel on the main street. The au- 
8 



114 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

thorities called upon him and informed him that he 
must instantly return. He presented his pass. 
" Oh ! but you obtained it upon a false statement of 
facts," was the reply. " I shall not say how it was 
obtained," said he, " but there is the legal permit to 
stay here six months. And in this paper the govern- 
ment commands that I be treated with all courtesy 
and due respect. It is not for you to go back of the 
passport and send me back. That is for the 
government to do." Here was a dilemma indeed ! 
In vain did they endeavor to extricate themselves. 
And so they spent many weeks in corresponding 
with head-quarters, smoking innumerable pipes of 
tobacco, and holding consultations with the other 
teacher, who puzzled them sorely by advising that 
the father be sent back regardless of passport. 

In the meantime the fellow had rented a house, 
and went around calling on his neighbors. He 
gave medical advice. How much he knew about 
doctoring I am unable to say. In this way he in- 
sinuated himself into quite a large circle of ac- 
quaintances. All this time he did not openly de- 
clare his real profession. He wore citizen's cloth- 
ing. His servants, however, let out the fact that 
he was a Jesuit priest. His intrusive impudence 
knew no bounds. He visited our school and gave 
advice about teaching English. He button holed 
the scholars and talked about foreign literature. 
He told the directors that I was not going to re- 
turn from Hakodate. Much to the consternation 
of the directors he called upon me one Sunday 



A FEW REMINISCENCES. 1 1 5 

morning. I was taking my bath. I could hear 
him in noisy dispute with the scholars in the audi- 
ence room. One of them had been converted in 
Yokohama by a Protestant missionary. He began 
operations upon him in the vernacular: " So, you 
are a Christian, eh ? Don't you know, my friend, 
that you are breaking the laws of your country by 
doing this ? Don't you know your head is the for- 
feit of your act ?" 

Scholar: "Ah! But that is the ancient law 
against Roman Catholicism, which was mistaken 
for true Christianity. But " 

Priest : " Hold on ! Not so fast ! There are no 
' buts ' in the case. You forget that, although the 
edicts have been taken down from the public gaze, 
yet the laws have not been repealed. Therefore 
you are under penalty of death." 

Scholar : " But the laws were made against 
the corrupt Roman Catholic Christianity, not 
against the pure Protestant Christianity. There- 
fore " 

Priest : " Now, just wait a moment ! You must 
not display such ignorance upon so important a 
subject. Even if the edicts had been more directly 
leveled at Roman Catholic Christianity, yet they 
were not specifically so worded and promulgated 
to that effect. They were sweeping decrees against 
all Christians. Now, the Protestants are also 
Christians, and must come under the exterminat- 
ing clause of the decree, as well as the Roman 
Catholics. And although the edicts have been 



I 1 6 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

taken down, the government is still silent on the 
point, and makes no public repeal and no public 
discrimination between Protestants and Catholics. 
Therefore you are unprotected." 

My entrance interrupted this conversation. 
The man evidently possessed great cunning and 
adroitness. Although dressed in citizen's clothing, 
his leering eyes and sneering lips reminded one of 
the ideal inquisitor. His English was barely intel- 
ligible. Nevertheless, he launched forth into the 
most enthusiastic conversation. He made partic- 
ular inquiries about cooking arrangements. Would 
it be too much to request the loan of monsieur's 
boy for a few days, in order to instruct his own 
boy, who knew absolutely nothing about cooking ? 
The impossibility of the inspired subject in mon- 
sieur's happy possession being able to give any in- 
struction was then discussed. Was monsieur an 
Englishman? No ? Ah ! An American ! America 
was a cold country, and had a sparse population, 
he had been informed. By the way, he had a friend 
over there. Possibly monsieur might be acquainted 
with him. He lives in Panama. Thus we con- 
versed. The directors felt positively relieved when 
he took his leave. They plainly did not wish any 
intimacy to spring up between us. 

All the strenuous efforts of the Hirosaki authori- 
ties to get rid of him seemed to be fruitless. He 
was an elephant on their hands. He was asked 
how long he intended to stay. He replied that it 
would probably be all his life. It was then ordered 



A FEW REMINISCENCES. I I J 

that he should hand in a written account of him- 
self, specifying where he came from, what his occu- 
pation was, and what he purposed doing in the 
city. To which he wrote that he came from a 
French province. For proof of this he referred 
them to a specified page of the register at the 
French Consulate in Yokohama. As to his occu- 
pation, that had been sufficiently specified in his 
passport. And as to what his future movements 
might be, he was unable at the present juncture to 
definitely state. This harmless reply was all they 
could get from him. It was finally agreed to wait 
till the expiration of his pass, and then send him 
home. But Jesuitical cunning was quite equal to 
the emergency. About two months before his 
time was to expire he made arrangements to teach 
chemistry in some obscure school in the city. His 
salary was to be one hundred dollars per month. 
And he was to pay it out of his own pocket ! Two 
or three persons were then posted down to Tokio 
to make the arrangements. Of course there could 
not be the slightest chance of success. But the 
time spent in going overland and in protracting the 
negotiations would take him much beyond his time. 
When notified that his pass had expired, he would 
reply that he was negotiating another agreement, 
and must remain for some definite answer. In fact, 
he had it in his power to protract his stay to an 
almost unlimited period. Sometimes it was an 
agreement for teaching chemistry. Sometimes it 
would be for surgery. Sometimes astronomy. 



I 1 8 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Truly the man thoroughly understood the weak 
side of Japanese character. 

Now, to you, brought up amid our free institu- 
tions, it will appear utterly incomprehensible why 
a body of public-spirited citizens did not wait upon 
the obnoxious brother, some dark night, and show 
him the inside of a tar barrel. But you must bear 
in mind that there is no such thing as individual 
public action in this land. The people look to the 
government to do everything. It is the govern- 
ment that builds the railroads, puts up telegraphs, 
runs steamers, directs labor, makes farms, intro- 
duces machinery, imports cattle, makes all improve- 
ments, starts schools, and sends students abroad. 
It will be difficult to find what the people do not 
expect the government to do. The simple reason 
is, that the people are hardly able yet to do these 
things for themselves. Besides this, the govern- 
ment does not yet feel safe in trusting too much 
power with the people. The agents of the gov- 
ernment, in the shape of Yakunins, transact all 
business of a public nature. Such a thing as the 
people sending a stray sheep back to treaty-limits 
would be an unheard-of assumption of executive 
power, utterly bewildering to contemplate. This 
country has yet to learn our decisive methods of 
severing complicated festoons of red tape. In the 
northern portion of the empire, in particular, the 
people are backward about assuming any responsi- 
bility in public matters. Being distant from the 
central power, they are watched very jealously. 



A FEW REMINISCENCES. 



II 9 



Therefore, for five or six stout citizens to bind the 
reverend gentleman, neck and heels, and post him 
off in a kago (sort of palankeen) for Tokio, would 
be a combination of officiousness and hardihood, 
the bare mention of which would daze the average 
native imagination. A native up here shrinks from 
assuming responsibility in such matters. An indi- 
vidual reckless enough to assume it would be an 
anomaly. The people are simply to implicitly obey 
orders. A subordinate must be a machine incapa- 
ble of subjective volition as regards taking the in- 
itiative in public action. He must give absolute 
deference to the commands of his superior. Bad 
luck to him should he presume to modify orders 
with individual opinions. In the native mind, 
obedience is the consummation of duty. Diso- 
bedience is a most serious offense. These two 
points have been drilled into their very being. As 
a child, obey your parents, even though by so 
doing you be bartered away to lead a life of shame 
in the brothels of the Yoshiwara ; as a wife, obey 
your husband, even though he be unreasonable and 
cruel in his conduct ; as a servant, your master; as 
a vassal, you lord, even unto death, for this is the 
most commendable of acts ; as a younger brother, 
your elder brother. And this not with mere half- 
way obedience, but absolute, that asks no ques- 
tions. 

You can, therefore, easily perceive how, when a 
case of unusual nature arises — a case that does not 
chance to be covered by the specifications — great 



120 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

perplexity ensues. The Yakunin easily comes to 
his wits' ends, not because he fails to see what 
ought to be done, but because he trembles to as- 
sume authority, lest he lay himself open to the 
charge of insubordination or carelessness. He, there- 
fore, holds long consultations with his colleagues, 
and finally sends a letter to head-quarters begging 
for further instructions. So long as he implicitly 
obeys every word of command he has but little cause 
to fear. I will, at this point, give you a character- 
istic story told me by one of the scholars. A Dai- 
mio ordered one of his generals to make a particular 
disposition of his forces, and to attack the enemy 
at a given point on a specified day. The general, 
however, seeing that disaster would result if the 
plans were carried out, saw fit to make his own dis- 
position of the forces, attack the enemy after his 
own fashion, and thereby gained the victory. But 
in so doing he had deliberately disobeyed. And on 
his return, as he bowed his head down to the tata- 
viis in presenting his respects, his enraged lord held 
his head down, and beat him with his clenched fist. 
And this was considered mild punishment ! 

Centuries of such training have produced a uni- 
versal disposition to shirk responsibility. In this 
country a min who can act decisively, and can suc- 
cessfully amalgamate orders with a discreet amount 
of individual opinion, is a genius. Now in the case 
of this priest the regular course of action would 
have been for the officers to have arrested the ad- 
venturous apostle, and to have handed him over to 



A FEW REMINISCENCES. 121 

the mayor of the city. He would then have sent 
him to the Governor of Awomori, who in turn 
would have forwarded the parcel, right side up with 
care, to Tokio by steamer. But, zounds ! The man 
held a passport from the emperor ! True, it had 
been obtained under false pretenses, but the man 
puzzled them by his cool and defiant attitude. The 
case was a novel one. The officers, fearing to 
make an arrest that might precipitate a diplomatic 
complication, referred the matter to the mayor. 
The mayor referred it to the governor, and the 
governor appealed to Tokio. And Tokio hesitates 
to make an arrest, per force, because it would be 
mortifying to make a public exposure of the fact 
that a foreigner had thus " done " the government 
out of a passport. And then a disclosure might 
imply that there had been careless management in 
the Foreign Office ; and this might make it very 
disagreeable for some high Yakunin in that depart- 
ment, who (I suspect) clogs the whole transaction 
by trying to hush up the affair. So his Grace, the 
governor, waits for definite orders. The mayor re- 
fuses to act without them. And the badgered officers 
assume an air of indifference, wash their hands of 
the entire matter, and mechanically wait for further 
developments. While the people, with a mixture 
of astonishment at the audacity that dares to beard 
a Yakunin in his den, and a strong feeling of admir- 
ing curiosity at having a foreigner to study at 
leisure, look on with a morbid sang froid that 
drives a republican half wild. And so the matter 



122 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

hangs. The Jesuit in the meantime is making him- 
self perfectly at home. He calls on his neighbors; 
distributes medicine to invalids ; teaches English ; 
and preaches to small gatherings at his house. 
How long he can successfully play his game I can- 
not say.* I don't think the government will ever 
let another one slip off in this manner. 

As this letter seems to be composed mostly of 
anecdotes, I will conclude with one giving the ex- 
perience of an eccentric friend of my acquaintance. 
It shows how far a foreigner with a bold front can 
browbeat the natives. And this story is very char- 
acteristic of a certain class of bullying Saxons that 
one meets in Japan. Mr. B. was very fond of ram- 
bling over the country. On one occasion he hap- 
pened to stray beyond treaty limits. Not in the 
least disturbed at this occurrence he took up his 
quarters in a hotel, and ordered a bath. The land- 
lord asked him to show his passport. Of course, 
he had none. He said, however, as the exigencies 
of the case did not seem to be imperative, he would 
spend the night in the hotel, and return to 
treaty limits in the morning. This satisfied the 
landlord. Our friend then went down to the bath. 
But he was much surprised to find it occupied by a 
strapping samurai. Our friend then told him in 
language more forcible than elegant to " piggy " 
out of that. The man replied that he was quite 
willing to remain where he was, as he felt quite equal 

* He remained nearly two years, and then left of his own accord. 



A FEW REMINISCENCES. I 23 

to the position, and, moreover, had not yet finished 
his ablutions. The gestures and tone of our irasci- 
ble friend now became so offensive that the recipi- 
ent thereof bounced out of the steaming tub, and 
rushed forv/ard with the avowed intent of chastising 
the intruder. But about three feet off he was met 
by a left-hander under the chin, which caused him 
to step back through the shojees into the next 
room with a rapidity of motion that could hardly 
be characterized as graceful — an abrupt proceeding 
that terrified in no inconsiderable manner two old 
women who chanced to be there watching the prog- 
ress of the misunderstanding through the crevices 
.of said shojees. As the victim showed no disposi- 
tion to come after his soap and clothing our friend 
pitched them out after him ; for the stage at which 
he had arrived in the arrangement of his toilet when 
interrupted could hardly have been designated as 
presentable to the condoling crowd of sympathiz- 
ing acquaintances gathering around him outside. 
Our friend then occupied the field of combat. He 
barricaded the doors, and spread himself out in the 
domain so lately occupied, and so hastily abdicated 
by the unhappy predecessor. After bathing to his 
heart's content, as he was going up to his room he 
saw quite a crowd in the yard listening to the ex- 
planation of the man who hadn't time to finish his 
bath, and who appeared to be illustrating his points 
with considerable warmth. Soon after the landlord 
came upstairs in considerable trepidation, and said 
that the samurai (who, by the way, was a Yakunin 



124 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

from the next village) had found out that the for- 
eigner had no passport, and that he was going to 
have him carried back to treaty limits that same 
night. Our friend said that he would see about 
that. He ordered up two hcbachis (braziers), with 
pots of boiling water. 

In a few minutes he heard steps on the stairs. 
Presently about a score of holes were punched 
through the slwjces and as many sparkling eyes 
looked through. A through reconnoisance, how- 
ever, of the premises seemed to convince the out- 
siders that a six-footer, stripped down to a pair of 
drawers and a pair of invulnerable hob-nailed dry- 
docks, and armed with a ladle and two pots of 
scalding water, was not the most eligible bellig- 
erent that the occasion called for. So they retired 
for further discussion on the ways and means of 
capturing the Philistine. And Mr. B. finished 
his dressing. As the crowd below began to be a 
source of annoyance, he went down in a high 
temper. He fiercely demanded what they wanted. 
They said he had no passport and must return to 
treaty limits instantly. He then demanded if there 
was any one in the crowd authorized by the gov- 
ernment to take him back. To which answer was 
made that there was not. " And who is that big 
samurai making all this row ? " " Oh ! He is a 
Yakunin from the next village." " Then," said Mr. 
B., "why is he making all this disturbance? I 
must report him at Tokio. What is his name?" 
But the fellow had vanished like smoke ! If you 



A FEW REMINISCENCES. I 25 

'had looked down the next street you would have 
seen him, clogs in hand, racing for the next village, 
utterly oblivious of the fact that he had left his 
towel and soap upon the veranda. 

" And what's this crowd doing here, I should like 
to know ? What are you blocking up the entrance 
for ? Has the government authorized you to be 
annoying the people in this hotel ? I must take a 
few of your names in this book of mine and report 
the affair at Tokio," said he, drawing forth his 
pocket-book. But there wasn't time to get a single 
name ! With one impulse, the frightened throng 
rushed forth into the street and scattered in all 
directions, leaving the vicinity as quiet as you 
please. And that ended the matter. In the 
morning he returned within treaty limits. 

All this sounds very strange to you, but it is 
still a very characteristic description. In a few 
years, however, I think the Japanese will become 
more self-asserting. When that time comes this 
letter will amuse the natives themselves. 

This will be my last letter from Hirosaki. To- 
morrow I start for Yokohama. My next letter I 
hope to date at Tokio. It is with feelings of con- 
siderable regret that I bid farewell to the Todgu- 
Gakko and the scholars. They have been my 
companions for eight months. They have been 
kind and obliging in escorting me about the coun- 
try. They have been diligent in their lessons, and 
extremely polite in their deportment in the school- 
room. I would much enjoy teaching them for 



126 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

another year. But the lonely life I am leading is 
beginning to wear me down. My successor is 
already on his way here. He brings his family 
with him. He will, no doubt, be able to remain 
here several years. With a wife to attend to your 
house, you can live very comfortably here. I must 
be about my packing. 

Farewell, 

Theophilus Pratt. 

P. S. — I am writing this at a little village outside 
of Hirosaki. We left at daylight this morning. 
There was a slight fall of snow, and the road was 
very slushy. The scholars followed me two miles 
out of the city. They then stopped, and one of 
them stepped out and made a speech in English. 
He thanked me in the name of the school for my 
kindness and care in instructing them ; said that 
they were sorry the place was so lonely ; but that 
they had all tried to make it pleasant for me, and 
hoped that my journey would be a pleasant one. 
I was not prepared for this speech. But, turning 
in my saddle, and looking down upon the upturned 
faces and moistened eyes, I was really touched. I 
shall never forget that scene. There they stood in 
a semicircle, ankle deep in the mud, and shivering 
with the cold. Each face was touched up with an 
expression of genuine sorrow ; for they had all 
been my companions in my loneliness, had all taken 
their turns in escorting me in my walks, had all 
been my faithful pupils. Under the inspiration of 



A FEW REMINISCENCES. 12 J 

the moment, I spoke for several minutes in reply, 
" Boys," said I, " we have now taken our last walk 
together. I shall now journey on to Awomori ; 
but you must return to your native city. I thank 
you for your many kindnesses to me during my 
stay in Hirosaki. Without you, my stay would 
have been very lonely indeed. I thank you for 
your diligence in your studies. By your diligence 
and kindness you have made my stay very pleasant. 
Perhaps I may never return to Hirosaki. Perhaps 
I may never see Iwa-ki-san again. But I can never 
forget the school and the scholars of the Toogu- 
Gakko. Should you ever visit Tokio or the United 
States, I shall always be much pleased to see you. 
In the meantime, diligently continue your studies. 
I hope we shall meet again in this world. If not, I 
hope we shall meet in the next. I hope you will 
all meet with great success. Farewell." They all 
bowed low, and my horse bore me down the road. 
I looked back several times, and there they stood. 
I can see them now, almost, as I write this. I really 
did not know there was so much feeling in the 
Japanese nature. When you have once gained 
their confidence, they are very affectionate. But 
their enmity, when once roused, is implacable. 
Yours in haste, 

Theophilus Pratt. 

Awomori, November 19, ' 74. 

Dear Julius Marcellus : 

Before sending off my last letter, I met with a 



128 LE TTERS FROM J A PA JST. 

delay that detained me in this place nearly a week. 
I take this opportunity to send you a copy of 
the farewell address presented to me by the di- 
rectors and scholars several days before starting. 
It will serve as a kind of third postscript. 

ADDRESS. . 

Since you came, last spring, to the school of 
Toogu, sailing over the waves, crested with foam, 
and taking no care of the uncivilized waste, you 
have taught the scholars for eight months, with 
your patience and industry. The fruits growing 
abundantly on the scholars, they made greater prog- 
ress, having compared to the last year. 

The effect was chiefly brought about by your 
wonderful energy. For the association, thus re- 
ceiving your kindness hitherto, I have no words to 
express the gratitude. Hereafter, I wish to reward 
your trouble of teaching, with the perfection of 
their study, with all my heart. 

Up to this time, you are living in the lone place 
without any friend to speak each other, save a few 
scholars. As you know, I being silly, not only I do 
imperfectly all that is required, but as I cannot 
speak the English like a dumb, have no means to 
comfort you, though I know your weariness and 
loneness. 

Moreover, other disagreement to your wishes are 
not few, but as these proceed from my being stranger 
to the English, I cannot hope to pray anything but 
the clear inference and forgiveness. 






A FEW REMINISCENCES. I 29 

The lacquer wares and silk threads are not, in 
reality, excellent things, yet as these are the manu- 
factures of the city of Hirosaki, I will offer these to 
you as the parting presents. I pray you to receive 
these. 

9 Sagaki. 



LETTER IX. 

TOKIO. 
Being a confidential Chat about the Metropolis. 

Tokio, May 31, 1875. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

YOUR letter from Naples came duly to hand. 
You ask me many questions about the situation 
and general features of Tokio ; about the geological 
aspects of the surrounding country ; about its his- 
tory, its inhabitants, the methods to which we re- 
sort for amusement, the present system of schools, 
and the social features of the place in general. 

Although your questions appear simple enough, 
yet, to transfer my ideas accurately to your mind 
through the clumsy media of pen and ink, will take 
no little time and paper. Written descriptions 
rarely convey accurate impressions to the reader's 
mind, and it is correspondingly rare to find a knight 
of the pen who does not regard his version or de- 
scription of place, character, or thing thoroughly 
correct. It is amusing to notice how the same 
question will be answered by different persons 
Ask a dozen residents of Tokio or Yokohama 
whether gratitude should be considered an element 
of Japanese character, and you will find yourself in 




AINOS. 

{From a Native Photograph.) 



TOKIO. 1 3 I 

possession of a vast and entertaining variety of af- 
firmation, negation, and invective. Be it therefore 
understood that we are only going to state our own 
views upon the metropolis. 

As the day is warm I shall lay myself out system- 
atically for my work. In the first place, I have or- 
dered the boy to put a couple of bottles of lemon- 
ade down the well so that I may refresh my pen 
betimes. I have ordered all the shojecs to be taken 
out, thus throwing parlor, bedrooms, and dining- 
room into one vast, airy apartment. So I am sit- 
ting in a kind of pavilion opening out on all sides 
into the garden. My chum has gone out for a day's 
shooting in the paddy fields beyond the Sumida ; 
so that my only companion is a little bull terrier 
that divides its time between sitting on a chair 
watching me write, and occasionally furnishing 
periods by bouncing out through the shrubbery at 
my neighbor's children who come peeping through 
the bamboo fence at the ejinsan (foreigner). Please 
excuse my shirt sleeves, for it is hot notwithstand- 
ing the bay breeze that is playing through the 
rooms. 

Now I feel prepared for that first question of 
yours. Let's see, what was it ? Boy ! bring me 
that letter on the bed. Ah ! here we are : " Gen- 
eral features of Tokio and the geological aspects of 
the surrounding country." 

In answering, we will omit the usual exordium 
which begins by positively announcing that Tokio 
is surely to be found transfixed by such and such a 



132 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

parallel, and has never been known to be otherwise 
than astride such and such a meridian. 

The city of Yashikis* and conflagrations is flanked 
on the east by a lovely bay, on the north by an ex- 
tensive stretch of level territory, and on the west 
and south by miles and miles of undulating country 
exquisitely diversified with picturesque ranges of 
hills. This is the most extensive piece of low coun- 
try to be found in the empire. It is the paradise 
of the ubiquitousyV;^^/^ man, for he can trundle 
his establishment as far northward as Sendai, a dis- 
tance of about two hundred miles, before he must 
give way to the kago (palankeen) and the pack 
horse ; to the north-west, he can meander peacefully 
for ninety miles until the Nikko range impedes his 
blissful course; and to the west, and south, the tra- 
ditional even tenor of his way will meet with but 
few obstructions for sixty miles. A fair geological 
inference would be, that this rolling hill country 
and plain is formed of the debris washed off from 
the mighty spinal range during the floods of pre- 

* A Yashiki was a style of feudal architecture peculiar to Yedclo. 
The central feature was a palace of vast proportions. Around this, 
on all sides, were gardens, lawns, and court-yards, covering fre- 
quently many acres of ground. All this was then hemmed in with 
an unbroken line of barracks arranged in a quadrangle and having 
heavily barred windows and iron-bound gates of massive proportions. 
Each Daimio had his Yashiki in Yeddo wherein he and his army of 
retainers resided during their long visits under the Tokugawa regime. 
But few of these grand structures remain ; many were burnt during 
the revolution ; and some of the finest, having been turned into gov- 
ernment offices, were set on fire and destroyed by stoves improperly 
set up therein. 



TOKIO. I33 

historic ages. The extensive rice flats of Echizen, 
Kaga, and Echigo, on the west coast of Nippon, 
show that the turbid streams were also busy on the 
other side of the range. Mixed up with all this al- 
luvial drift will be found large quantities of lava 
from Fuji-san and Asama-yama. So much for the 
geological features of the surrounding country. 

The features of Tokio are various. The stranger's 
impression of the city will be materially modified by 
the time of the year, the state of the weather, the 
moral tone of his jinrikslia man, and the importu- 
nity of the Shiba priest. It is all very well, should 
he chance to strike a day when the fickle metropoli- 
tan climate chances to be smiling, and hit upon a 
team of amiable bipeds, to make the columns of 
that paper for which he is acting as foreign corre- 
spondent beam with vivid eulogies on the divine 
temperament of the native disposition, the tran- 
scendent salubrity of the Japanese climate, the 
beauty of the mausoleums, and the courteous de- 
portment of the priesthood. But let him come up 
on a day when the piercing gales from off Nantai- 
zan are raising every available atom of dust and 
pouring them down the streets in unremitting 
clouds ; just let him try to view park and temple 
with half-shut eyes and frozen liver; just let him 
drive like a hurricane to the station to catch the. 
last train, and then have a grand fight with the jin- 
riksha men ; have them push the money back in 
derision ; have them follow him all the way to the 
slip bawling in vociferous unison at the incompati- 



134 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

bility of the pay with their gigantic exertions ; have 
them grasp his clothing and bawl in his ears as he 
is attempting to pass the slip ; and have a recollec- 
tion of a sudden cessation of hostilities as a boot or 
cane goes off into a promiscuous assemblage of ribs, 
shins, and top-knots, and then a gloomy tinge will 
be imparted to the columns of that public instructor. 
The peruser thereof will gather the impression that 
the word beastly but inadequately expresses the 
Tokio climate ; that the temples are barracks ; and 
that a jinriksJia man is a combination of vicious 
balkishness and unutterable avarice, to be ranked 
below the vilest of the vile. 

Let us take a ride around the city. Visitors 
have reduced the "doing" of Tokio down to a 
science. Let us suppose we are new-comers, and let 
us go over the beaten track. Here we jump into a 
jinriksJia at the station and merely say " morrozv- 
morrow " (slang for go sight-seeing), and the faces of 
the crowd instantly become electrified with a beam 
of intelligence ; and four happy top-knots (only 
two are necessary) immediately spring into position 
fore and aft of the vehicle, and away they go yell- 
ing like Modocs until we reach Shiba, in the south- 
west portion of the city. Here we can well spend 
a full hour in examining the mausoleums of the 
Shoguns (Tycoons) ensconced upon the gentle 
slopes of a deeply wooded hill. The elegantly 
lacquered floors, the richly frescoed ceilings, the 
pillars with exquisite arabesque designs, the mass- 
ive tombs of stone and bronze, the carved and 



TOKIO. 135 

gilded walls, the bronze lanterns that look like 
dwarfed minarets, and the cool, melancholy avenues 
winding through the groves, will delight you ex- 
ceedingly. 

We now go through the castle grounds to 
Asakusa, some four miles off, in the northern por- 
tion of the city. Here we find an extremely large 
and unromantic Buddhist temple. In the im- 
mediate vicinity are all manner of shows. From 
morn till dewy eve the place swarms with sight- 
seers. Peasants, corporals, gaping military recruits, 
and crowds of women armed with babies, loom up 
from all quarters of the metropolis to inspect the 
miniature Barnums. 

We now leave this uproar and confusion, and 
make off for Uyeno, about two-thirds of a mile 
north-east of Asakusa. This is a pretty park upon 
a bluff. Scattered through the grounds are a few 
temples of rather indifferent quality. Several of 
the Shoguns were buried here. At one time this 
park was the prettiest part of Tokio, and its tem- 
ples were far-famed ; but the Imperial Revolution 
of 1868 worked sad havoc with the shrines, and left 
only a few inferior buildings and some bullet- 
spattered gateways, which are rapidly disappear- 
ing. From the tea booths that line the brow of 
the hill, you obtain a lovely view of the city. The 
pretty panorama stretches for miles to the west, 
south, and east. And sixty miles to the south- 
west, you see Fujisan lifting its flattened crest far 
above the Hakone range. 



I36 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Leaving Uyeno, we drive down the Ginza, across 
Nihon-Bashi (the center from which all distances 
in the empire are computed), and reach the station 
in time to catch the five o'clock train. 

Regarding the history of Yeddo, or Tokio as it 
has been called since the Imperial Revolution, you 
will find that it does not date back four hundred 
years. When the Pilgrim Fathers were clearing 
away the timber from the cheerless shores of 
Massachusetts Bay, the site of Tokio was waving 
with tall grass and was tangled with under- 
brush. A few hamlets of fishermen and peasants 
were scattered here and there. The wild geese 
from Yesso could, with rare impunity, frequent the 
marshes of the Sumida. Tokngawa Iyeyas, while 
campaigning in this vicinity, noted its rare adapta- 
tion for a commercial metropolis, and his suc- 
cessors made it the permanent capital of the 
Tokugawas. The great feature of the city is the 
castle. The citadel was built by Ohta Dokan. The 
two outer systems of circumvallation were subse- 
quently added as the grandeur of the dynasty grew 
apace. The circumference of the entire castle is 
now eleven miles. 

Scores of yashikis y or palaces, sprang up all over 
the city in order to accommodate the Daimios and 
hordes of vassals that trooped with tithes and 
homage from more than a hundred provinces. 
Then, as a matter of course, merchants and trades- 
men came in immense numbers and built up the 
lowlands around the bay, beside the river, and 






TOKIO. I37 

along the base of the bluffs. It did not take long 
for the glory of Kamakura to depart, and for 
Yeddo to become the metropolis. Every favorable 
breeze now brought fleets of junks scudding up the 
bay, gliding up the Sumida, and creeping off into 
the numerous canals that cut up the city outside 
the moats. Rice, salt, charcoal, fish, oranges from 
Kiushiu, sea-weed from Hakodate, and lumber from 
Chiba, were some of the cargoes. This was the 
great epoch of commercial prosperity in Japan. 
For three centuries a profound peace reigned 
throughout the empire. 

But Yeddo itself was always a scene of bustle 
and excitement. Between conflagrations, earth- 
quakes, processions of Daimios coming in from the 
provinces, and brawls between members of hostile 
clans, the mildew was not allowed to settle so 
thoroughly as it had done in other parts of the 
realm. New Year's Day was the great festive 
occasion. Friends exchanged visits and feasted. 
There is but little doubt that New Year's calling 
was introduced into America from Japan. The 
Dutch at Desima carried it to Holland, and the 
Knickerbockers then carried it to New York. The 
custom does not prevail in England. On this day 
the Daimios in Yeddo presented their respects to 
the Shogun. 

The next event would be the annual visit of the 
Dutch delegation from Desima. After their chief 
had, on his hands and knees, crawled into the 
presence of the Generalissimo of the Four Coasts, 



I38 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

prostrated himself, and then crawled back again ; 
and after his companions had sung Dutch songs, 
danced Dutch jigs, and kissed Dutch kisses for the 
entertainment of the royal household, they would 
be sent back with a few presents to Kiushiu {vide 
Kaempfer). 

Then some powerful northern Daimio would for, 
several days pour his retainers along the Oshiu- 
kaido, and another army of samurai would stream 
up the Tokaido from the south. Bustle and ex- 
citement would follow until they were settled down 
in their yashikis. How the children and the 
women tried to catch glimpses of the lords through 
the chinks in the doors ! 

But Yeddo wanted variety. So some windy 
night an incendiary, or careless waiter girl, would 
set fire to a house, and away would go about a 
quarter of the city. These vast conflagrations oc- 
curred about every two years. They usually began 
beside the moat and would lick up everything 
down to the bay. With the exception of the 
castle, the city was rebuilt about every eight or 
ten years. 

At another time the community would be enter- 
tained with a grand street duel between hot-headed 
samurai. Then some high officer, who had ren- 
dered himself obnoxious to his subordinates, would 
be hacked in pieces in broad daylight by a sudden 
dash of assassins rushing upon him at some unex- 
pected point. Japanese in feudal times had to use 
great care in addressing each other. A word, a 



TOKIO. 



139 



gesture, an uncourteous expression of voice, has 
frequently given offense that has been avenged 
after years of nursing. The rude official was sur- 
rounded with scores of thirsty blades awaiting 
some dark night or unguarded yasliiki. The ex- 
treme politeness of the Japanese is the product of 
feudal etiquette. 

Next, perchance, would occur a social tragedy. 
Some Daimio has insulted one of his vassals. Feu- 
dal etiquette stigmatizes any samurai who raises 
his hand against his lord ; so the fiery vassal calls 
his friends together, settles all accounts, and immo- 
lates himself on the shrine of honor by performing 
the hara-kiri. 

And now nature steps in and a violent earth- 
quake sends the city scampering into the streets. 
These shocks were generally quite harmless. On 
two occasions, however, since the founding of the 
city, the greater portion of Yeddo was thrown down 
and burned. As many as twenty thousand people 
perished on one of these occasions. But these epi- 
sodes were never allowed to interfere with trade. 
A Japanese merchant is not so easily disconcerted. 
With only five dollars in his pocket, he will set up 
shop again, while the embers of his former estab- 
lishment are still smoldering. The whole burned 
district will be rebuilt in a month. The center of 
every merchant's house is a fire-proof go-down (ware- 
house). When a fire-alarm is raised, he hastily puts 
all his valuables inside, seals up the cracks with 
clay, leaves a lighted candle inside, securely bolts 



I40 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

the door outside, seals it also with clay, and takes 
up his clothing and bedding and leisurely goes to 
the nearest open piece of ground and camps out all 
night. The next day he builds up a frail, tem- 
porary domicile around his go-down. No attempt 
is made to fight the fire. The Yeddo merchant is 
emphatically a man of business. Accustomed to 
handling money, he has acquired a reputation for 
energy and liberality. Accustomed to bustle and 
excitement and to variety in customs, he has be- 
come decidedly cosmopolitan in his tastes, and fond 
of all kinds of innovation. Accustomed to a thriv- 
ing business atmosphere, he has acquired a brisk- 
ness of action and a recklessness in speculation that 
quite take the breath out of a north countryman, 
and instill a mingled feeling of contempt and ad- 
miration into the effete being of a victim from 
Kioto. It has been his lot to deal too frequently 
with impetuous samurai, who often settled bargains 
with their swords. And this experience has given 
him a finished politeness of manner, which renders 
him a fit model for some of our home clerks, and 
an obsequious pertinacity in adhering to prices that 
renders him an object of disagreeable comment at 
times to his European victims. 

But old Yeddo has passed away. The arrival of 
Perry marked an epoch in its history. Consterna- 
tion filled the court when it was known that a for- 
eign fleet rode at anchor only a few miles below the 
capital. They must be instantly ordered off. But 
they refuse to go without delivering an important 



TOKIO. 



HI 



letter to a high official ! Are they then unlike the 
Dutch ? Aye, and are persistent in their demands. 
Terror spreads from the court to the city. The 
merchants begin to carry off their valuables to 
places of safety. A general exodus appears immi- 
nent. Old samurai, who had been lamenting the 
decline of chivalry, now begin to snuff carnage and 
breathe vengeance against the intruders. But the 
pressure is too great, and a treaty is reluctantly 
made. Dissatisfaction seizes the samurai. Angry 
mutterings come from the north, the west, and 
the south. The political sky grows black. Never- 
theless, the foreign trade prospers. The merchants 
become opulent. The prices of silk, rice, and tea 
become trebled. And all the pressure falls on 
the samurai, who alone derive no benefit from this 
outside traffic. And, as if infatuated, the Shogun 
makes treaties with other nations, and opens other 
ports. This must surely be stopped. The Shogun 
is favoring the barbarian beasts and is betraying 
the national interests ! He is urgently petitioned 
to expel the intruders, but replies that it is beyond 
his power. Then the discontented samurai trans- 
fer their allegiance from the Shogun to the Mikado, 
and, for the first time in centuries, the tide of 
power sets from the east toward the west ; the 
chrysanthemum begins to prevail over the mallow 
leaves, and the imperial voice commands the Sho- 
gun to annul the treaties and expel the barbarian. 
The answer is that things have gone too far. No 
power can annul the treaties. Heavier and darker 



I42 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

hangs the political sky over the house of Toku- 
gawa. Influence rapidly deserts Yeddo and flows 
steadily toward the Gosho and the Phenix car. The 
Shogun, unable to carry out the imperial decrees, 
is commanded to lay down his office. Unwilling 
to raise the standard of revolt against the son of 
heaven, he retires into voluntary exile, after a vain 
attempt to wrest the imperial person from the 
grasp of the hostile and powerful Satsuma clan. 
The Aidzu and Tokugawa clans, however, bitterly 
continue the struggle unavailingly. They are 
driven from Kioto, pressed steadily backward upon 
Yeddo, fight desperately for a few days in the 
Uyeno grounds, are driven slowly northward, and 
are finally vanquished in their last furious struggle 
at Hakodate in Yesso. And the Mikado, who has 
been ruling by proxy for more than a thousand 
years, comes to Yeddo and rechristens it Tokio. 
And now out with the barbarian ! But hold ! 
What means this sudden change? Has the Mikado 
gone mad ? Was not the rallying cry of the revo- 
lution, " Down with the Shogun ! Out with the 
barbarian!" Yet he is far exceeding the Shogun 
in his liberality ! More favorable treaties are made ! 
Additional ports are thrown open, and foreign 
civilization is introduced ! 

This singular transformation must rank as one of 
the most extraordinary changes in history. The 
new government clearly saw the folly of struggling 
against foreigners, and, as only Japanese can do, 
gracefully bowed to the force of circumstances. 



TOKIO. 



H3 



Arrogant and haughty when in power, they well 
know how to be humble and obsequious when 
under power. And so, not without a pang of re- 
gret, we bid farewell to Yeddo. 

Tokio is quite a new city. The castle has been 
much dismantled, so that the people may more 
speedily forget old times. Almost all the yashikis 
have been destroyed. Houses patterned after Eu- 
ropean models have sprung up everywhere. Just 
accompany me for a short time and we will note 
the main points of interest. 

Let us begin, then, at Tsukidji, the foreign con- 
cession. It is down on the bay. In former times 
it was a snipe-pool, but it has been sufficiently filled 
in to make a fair piece of property. The location 
is not very healthy. At ebb tide, three or four 
.miles of mud-flats are laid bare under the very 
noses of the community. The wells are brackish. 
In some parts dampness and malaria render the 
ground floors unsafe for sleeping purposes. For 
foreign commercial purposes it is a failure, as the 
water is shallow for eight miles into the bay. The 
merchants, therefore, have pronounced anathemas 
upon the place and concentrated their forces at 
Yokohama. The place is at present almost entirely 
occupied by missionaries, who have made it one of 
the most presentable spots in Tokio. Like Desima 
at Nagasaki, it is an artificial island hemmed in 
with broad canals. But unlike Desima, no Yaku- 
nins stand guard at the bridges to prevent egress 
and ingress. The Tokugawas little dreamed that a 



144 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Dutch legation would ever be built within a mile 
and a half of Nihon-bashi. 

Tsukidji is also dangerously situated as regards 
fires. The northerly gales carry all the conflagra- 
tions down in this direction, so that it has on one 
occasion been burnt out, and badly scorched on an- 
other. On such occasions the creaking of well- 
ropes, the roar of the multitudes streaming by, the 
blinding clouds of glowing cinders, and the blazing 
tatamis, borne along on clouds of dust, render the 
scene interesting, and hot for the fire volunteers. 
Tsukidji has four churches, two legations, three 
seminaries, a hospital, a hotel, a butchery, an orphan 
asylum, and half a dozen parsonages. 

Half a mile southwest of Tsukidji is the Naval 
College, an institution with an able staff of English 
instructors. Beyond this is the Sei-O-Ken, a hotel 
upon foreign ideas, kept by the Japanese. In build- 
ing it the chimneys proved a failure, so they have 
run innumerable stove-pipes through walls and win- 
dows, until the institution resembles a huge soap- 
boiling establishment. They, however, serve up a 
capital table d'hote. They have also introduced the 
civilized institutions of bar-room (patronized almost 
entirely by Europeans) and billiards. The reading- 
room has a fair assortment of foreign journals, in- 
cluding some of the indecent illustrated literature 
of New York city. 

Another half-mile brings us to the railway sta- 
tion, a building that would do credit to any country. 
Another half-mile brings us to Yamato-Yashiki, a 




THE UBIQUITOUS JINRIKISHA. 



TOKIO. I45 

pretty bluff covered with fine European houses for 
the use of foreigners in the employ of the Survey, 
Telegraphic, and Engineering Departments. Under 
the old regime this was one of the aristocratic por- 
tions of Yeddo. Here we also find the Ko-bu-sho, 
the Department of Public Works. It is a massive 
yashiki turned into offices. Near this stands the 
Engineering College, which possesses the finest 
group of buildings in Japan. They are substan- 
tially built of brick and stone, and would be a credit 
to any country. It has a large staff of European 
instructors, and is in a most flourishing condition. 

We now cross the moat, and turn to the west. 
Upon a bluff that skirts this part of the city we find 
the Mining Department. It is a magnificent old 
yashiki. This institution seems to accomplish but 
little beside giving employment to a horde of sam- 
urai, whose prime occupation seems to be drawing 
pensions, and meeting every day to annihilate end- 
less supplies of weed in discussing ways and means 
for — for (does anybody know ?) — for a continua- 
tion of the present order of things perchance. The 
natives are so jealous about the mineral resources 
of their country that they grudgingly allow any 
outside inspection. Once in a while an engineer 
will be sent through the provinces on a tour of 
inspection. His reports are then duly considered 
and ignored, until lapse of time renders it necessary 
to organize another expedition to keep up the de- 
lusion that something important is being done by 
the Mining Department. 



I46 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Passing northward for a mile along this pretty 
bluff we come to the British Legation, an immense 
" compound " surrounded by a substantial brick 
wall. In the center rises the huge residence of Her 
Majesty's Minister. Scattered through the spacious 
and pretty grounds are small brick houses for the 
Consul, the student interpreters, and a host of under- 
lings usually connected with an English legation 
in the East. In fact, the emperor himself does not 
live in such style. These magnificent legations, 
found wherever the cross of St. George unfurls to 
the breeze, are truly indicative of the power of the 
British Empire. But their immense cost, taken in 
connection with the prolific capacity of the house 
of Hanover-Brunswick, makes it rather disagreeable 
for the common run of English taxpayers. My ex- 
perience is that Americans, behaving themselves, 
are just as much protected and just as well received 
abroad as Englishmen, even though our people do 
not lavish money on their legations. The American 
citizen does not seem to need so much protection 
as a British subject. He behaves himself better 
toward the people of a foreign country, and con- 
sequently has less collision. Englishmen have been 
frequently cut down in Japan. I do not know of 
any native-born American so dealt with. There 
have been one or two naturalized ones assassinated, 
I believe. When the British subject learns to deport 
himself like a gentleman upon all occasions toward 
inferior races he will be disposed to dispense with 
the expensive luxury of being too much governed. 



TOKIO. 



147 



This entire bluff is known as Ban-Cho, and in 
old times it was highly favored by the aristocracy. 
Many pretty villas are scattered all over it. At 
the end of the bluff we find a light-house and a 
race-course. Rather an odd place for a light-house, 
you will say, and so it is. It was built in honor 
of the braves who fell fighting for His Majesty 
during the revolution. There is a weird supersti- 
tion that it serves to guide the departed souls, 
should they chance to be hovering near during the 
cheerless hours of night. However that may be, 
'tis surely a fine beacon for belated travelers who 
have not been so happy as to fall in the Imperial 
service. 

This vicinity is a sort of Campus Martius. Sev- 
eral times during the year races, wrestling, fireworks, 
and sports of various descriptions take place here. 
Hither swarm all classes of natives, and fill the 
boxes and scaffoldings that have been thrown up 
around the race-course. These are occasions of 
thrilling interest to the youth of the city. The 
horse-racing is the funniest portion of the whole 
programme. Each race is contested by half a dozen 
specimens of slab-sided horseflesh. At some un- 
couth signal the startled animals rush forward ; at 
the first turning at least one pair of shanks describes 
a cycloid over the nag's head ; at the second turning 
another candidate for glory prosaically measures his 
length in the mud ; and at the finish two or three 
demoralized nags come shambling down the home- 
stretch amid a feeble cheer, being kept from loafing 



I48 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

up against the fence to rest by the vigorous use of 
tongue and stick. 

Passing down the hill we come to an extensive 
level district filled with the houses of the common 
people. Near the moat is the " compound " of the 
Kai-Sei-Gakko, the Imperial University of Japan. 
The buildings are not so elaborate as those of the 
Engineering College, but it is in quite as prosperous 
a condition. It furnishes a good curriculum of 
studies, and has an able staff of foreign instructors. 
The location, however, is low and unhealthy. 

Crossing to the northward we come to Tsu- 
ruga Dai, reputed to be the highest bluff and 
the healthiest locality in Tokio. Here we find 
many fine houses in European style, also a large 
Russian church, and an extensive female seminary. 
The atmosphere is very pure, and the view is 
lovely. The city stretches away for miles. Yon- 
der is the tall roof of Mitsui's Bank, rising like a 
tower above the general level of houses around it. 
There lies the terraced, thrice-moated castle. There 
stretches the Ginzalike a streak of snow, its modern 
style strangely constrasting with the surrounding 
architecture. And nearly four miles to the south- 
east you see the spires and gable-ends of Tsukidji; 
while far down the bay you see the forts built 
across the Shinagawa Shoals at the limits of the 
suburbs. 

And this is Tokio, with its five years of modern 
improvement, its schools and colleges, its twenty- 
eight square miles of animation, bustle, and trade. 



TOKIO. 149 

As to your question concerning the climate of 
Tokio, a few words will suffice. January and 
February are cold but clear months. But little 
snow falls ; and the ponds, canals, and river are 
rarely frozen. A penetrating northerly wind makes 
you feel the cold to be trying. The gusts are very 
fickle. You will first have three or four days as 
balmy and as lovely as May, and you allow your 
fires to burn very low. Then your blinds begin to 
rattle, and a freezing gale rushes down from Nikko- 
san and takes the city by storm, making it misery 
to go out, and making it almost impossible to keep 
warm should you chance to be living in a native 
house. The month of March is even more change- 
able. About the middle of April you begin to drop 
your overcoat and bank your fires. The flowers 
now begin to come out. Crowds of people daily 
flock to Uyeno and Asakusa to see the beautiful 
groves of cherry trees buried in floating masses of 
pink and white blossoms. May is usually as lovely 
as can be desired, — although a little fire is agreeable 
in the evenings and on a few days when the fickle 
blasts of winter suddenly return as if loath to be 
exiled in the northern solitudes. The month of 
June is rainy and muggy, and everything becomes 
sticky and moldy, — an occasional fire is sometimes 
in order even in this month. July and August 
settle down to clear weather and steady heat, which 
is usually moderated by a typhoon near September. 
The last-named month is rather inclined to be 
rainy. October and November are simply perfec- 



I 50 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

tion, and December is almost as good. You start 
a low fire about the middle of October. For at 
least five months a steady fire is essential to com- 
fort. It is reported, however, that certain Scotch- 
men go nearly the whole winter without any arti- 
ficial heat. This does not, however, indicate the 
average capacity for enduring cold of our com- 
munity, for to chill the blood of some of these 
Caledonians would require the windward exposure 
of an iceberg. The climate is healthful on the 
whole. The grass is green all the year ; and the 
camelias bloom all winter. The drinking water of 
Tokio is bad, especially in the low lands. The 
immense above ground drainage in gutters is 
thought to infect the springs. Filtering and boil- 
ing are resorted to. Much water is also brought 
from more favored localities in wooden pipes. The 
natives always drink tea, and are therefore not much 
annoyed in this respect. From December to March 
small-pox is an epidemic. The natives pay no 
more attention to it than we do to the measles. 
Almost everybody has had it. It does not seem to 
take violent hold of bodies nurtured with vegetable 
food. Foreigners are not much troubled with it, 
however. Cholera is an anomaly. Rheumatism 
and consumption are the prevailing ailments. The 
peculiar leg dropsy is very fatal to many. This is 
a malady unknown to us; it always begins at the 
knee and travels upward and attacks the vitals. 

The conflagrations form the most disagreeable 
feature of Tokio. Thev have a reeular season, 



TOKIO. 1 5 I 

which almost invariably commences in the middle 
of November and lasts all winter. They are at- 
tributed to poverty-stricken incendiaries ; carpen- 
ters, clothing merchants, and lumber dealers being 
the popular scapegoats. But the fact that fires are 
coincident with the approach of cold weather and 
the consequent use of hebachis (braziers), argues 
that they are the result of carelessness on the part 
of the natives, who are notoriously heedless in car- 
rying shovels full of blazing charcoal all over the 
house to different hebachis. You frequently find 
the tatamis in a Japanese house scored with charred 
holes, — silent witnesses of the shuffling carelessness 
of a free-and-go-easy waiter girl, who invariably 
laughs and says " narahodo " (indeed) when you call 
her attention to them. 

Life in Tokio differs much from that in Yoko- 
hama ; the latter place, in fact, is not Japan at 
all. The European society is composed of pro- 
fessors, missionaries, employes in the different 
departments, and a few of the intelligent Japanese 
who have been abroad. The teachers of the engi- 
neering colleges and the employes of the Ko-Bu- 
Sho live at Yama-to-Yashiki. The teachers of the 
Kai-Sei-Gakko live partly in the vicinity of the 
university and partly at Kaga-yashiki, two miles 
northward. Quite a number of clerical and secular 
people live at Suruga-Dai, while the missionaries 
have monopolized Tsukidji. You will see, there- 
fore, that distances of at least two miles separate 
the five branches of the Tokio community. It is 



152 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

a hard day's work to make the round on New 
Year's Day. One is surprised when he hears that 
the directory has six hundred names down as resi- 
dents of Tokio. Many are scattered around in ob- 
scure places. Many are in the employ of the 
Mitsu-Bishi Steamship Company and are only 
nominal residents of the place. Others, whose 
names are down, are in the employ of the Kitakushi, 
and Mining Department and are off in Yesso or 
Akitah. So that it is safe to say the average com- 
munity does not exceed three hundred. And as 
educated Japanese return from abroad and fill 
positions now occupied by foreigners, this number 
will rapidly diminish. The native population is 
about eight hundred thousand. In the days of the 
Tokugawas, however, when armies of retainers 
filled the numerous Yashikis, it exceeded a million 
and a half. 

Our leisure hours and business hours are variously 
employed. If you are adviser to a department of 
government, you dole forth the requisite amount 
of admonition (which may or may not be heeded), 
invest largely in curios, drive around in a carriage, 
keep your temper when interfered with by officious 
Yakunins, wisely let the department take its own 
course, and set an example of heroic intrepidity 
and commendable punctuality in drawing your 
salary as the appointed day rolls around. Even if 
you do not chance to be an adviser to a department 
but hold some subordinate position, you will also 
find pay-day to be an interesting season of much 



TOKIO. 153 

unction. If you are a missionary you will find 
your time well taken up with studying the capri- 
cious language, teaching, preaching, and a few 
social duties. If you are a teacher in one of the 
government schools, you will find your life singu- 
larly unique. Your first move on coming to Tokio 
is to get a house, provided the government has 
not already furnished one for your accommodation. 
This undertaking usually assumes ponderous pro- 
portions before success crowns your efforts. Natives 
do not like to let good houses to foreigners. They 
abhor the tracking of muddy shoes over their 
tatamis. And then the ejinsan is so rough in hand- 
ling a fragile Japanese house. He thrusts the pipe 
of his stove through a wall and thus greatly in- 
creases the risk of fire. Then he knocks down a 
partition so as to have a large dining-room, and 
makes a big hole in the wall by backing his chair 
against it after a hearty meal. He drives about a 
hundred and fifty nails into the posts all over the 
house in order to hang up a multitude of pictures, 
guns, fishing-rods, hats, boots, trowsers, and a 
myriad of other things indispensable to his ideas 
of comfort. On sundry occasions he spits tobacco 
juice and an occasional mouthful of hot soup upon 
the tatamis. And he invariably keeps a brace of 
dogs that are perpetually jumping through the 
shojees, measuring their heights against the nicely 
papered walls, or when not thus engaged, are pur- 
suing botanical investigations by tearing up the 
shrubbery in the garden and digging tunnels 



154 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

through the artificial Fujisans. As I just remarked, 
you will find it difficult to get a house at all. You 
finally succeed in renting one on Ban Cho or Suruga- 
Dai for about ten or twenty dollars per month. 
You usually have a long bicker with the landlord, 
who wishes you to insure the premises against fire. 
He tells you that this is a regulation of the Tokio- 
Fu (city government), and that all ejinsans must 
comply with it before taking a house. Steering 
clear of this imposition, you finally secure the 
premises upon your own terms. For twenty dol- 
lars you can get a fine house with a large yard. 
You then invest in about thirty dollars' worth of 
furniture, set up your stove, and paper up all the 
crevices. A few panes of glass along the sJiojees 
looking out into the yard complete your prepara- 
tions. You generally get some other gentleman to 
take a part of the house, and you keep bachelor's 
hall together. Your next step is to get a boy. 
You walk over to Yama-to-Yashiki to see if Peak's 
boy can recommend one. To be sure he can, he 
has a friend who is an excellent cook, and happens 
to be out of employment because his master's con- 
tract was not renewed by the Ko-Bu-Sho. He 
shall come around to-night. His wages? Well, 
his late master had a large household and gave him 
ten dollars per month. Ever get drunk? Never! 
His credentials? Oh, he shall bring them with him 
to-night. All right. Send him around this even- 
ing. Promptly he comes in his best clothes and 
well-polished top-knot. You and your chum then 



TOKIO. 1 5 5 

form yourselves into an imposing inquisitorial com- 
mittee upon character. Albeit you consider his 
appearance somewhat " fishy," and feel morally cer- 
tain that he has borrowed or rented his credentials, 
you nevertheless engage him on trial, and he begins 
operations by blacking your boots on the spot. 
Next week he brings his family around and stows 
them away out of sight in some of the back rooms. 
Thus you are thoroughly started in house-keeping. 
As a matter of course, for the first two months 
you are deeply engrossed in your classes. You 
teach from four to five hours per day, Saturday 
and Sunday being free. You find the students 
quite different from scholars in the interior. They 
are more forward in conversation, being not so 
modest or timid as north-countrymen. Some of 
those who have been under inferior specimens of 
instructors are rather inclined to be insolent and 
intractable. They possess little of the deferential 
politeness found in boys who have never come in 
contact with the libertines of the Treaty Ports. 
Having access to libraries, you frequently find them 
plagiarizing their essays. Considerable vigilance is 
required in detecting these frauds. The convicted 
party usually laughs and says he was in a hurry 
last Sunday to go off with his friends and see the 
cherry blossoms at Uyeno. In my next letter I 
am going to give you some specimens of these 
compositions. I shall also give you a fuller ac- 
count of the schools in Japan, as space will not 
permit in this letter. 



I56 LE TTERS FROM J A PAN. 

The only punishment allowable is u imposition" 
after school hours. After sentencing a precocious 
youth to copy out ten pages of his reader before 
going home to dinner, you find him very indus- 
trious for a fortnight or so thereafter. The most 
annoying experience connected with teaching is 
trying to secure punctual and regular attendance. 
They are frequently absent from recitations, so 
that you have to be very exacting with them. 
Their elastic excuses have to be rigorously reduced 
to proportions of probability. After a few weeks' 
experience, you find yourself compelled to fix a 
definite limit to their decimation of relatives. You 
begin to insist that parents are to die but once a 
year ; grandparents, but once in six months ; and 
immediate relatives are to be sparingly used up, as 
occasion may require. And the ubiquitous plea of 
important business is never to be tolerated without 
specific definitions in writing. 

As in the interior, the scholars are all the chil- 
dren of samnrai. No restriction is actually placed 
on the admission of the children of the lower 
classes ; but, partly from the lack of appreciation 
of the value of education, and partly from social 
antipathy resulting from centuries of prerogative, 
the children of the lower classes are unable to 
derive much benefit at present from the schools 
patronized by young bloods. This, of course, 
makes it pleasanter for the teacher ; for the samurai 
are not only more cleanly in their habits, but also 
much superior as regards breeding and intelligence. 



TOKIO. 1 5 7 

This is the result of centuries of superior advan- 
tages. 

As a rule, the scholars dress in native costumes, 
and they look much better this way. The first 
appearance of a small boy in coat-tails and tight 
trowsers is quite paralyzing. 

Nevertheless, you soon become really attached 
to your class. You find many excellent specimens 
of young men. Some of my most intimate ac- 
quaintances have been among my scholars. While 
freely associating with them, I have never known 
them to presume upon my friendship. 

Outside of school hours, the time of the foreign 
instructor in Tokio is variously spent. In winter, 
he will hurry off home, toast his feet at a stove, 
and read until dinner time. After this, perchance, 
he will go over to Yama-to-Yashiki and play chess 
with Peaks ; or he may possibly prefer to walk 
down Ban-Cho, and have a delicious season of gossip 
with his colleagues respecting the probability of 
getting a " rise " at the end of the year. An oc- 
casional evening spent in solemn conclave with his 
chum in investigating the boy's accounts, and blow- 
ing him up roundly for cheating, seems to give 
much zest to one's mental tone. 

About once a week he gives a "stag" dinner or 
attends one. Should time, however, be still hang- 
ing heavily, he can go down to Tsukidji and call on 
the latest arrival of young ladies ; and should his 
taste for this species of diversion be strong, he can 
occasionally journey on to Yokohama and shed his 



I58 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

beams on the most radiant localities along the 
Bluffs. 

As spring comes on, he begins to spend his after- 
noons in visiting places of interest. He will first 
go to see the pleasure gardens of the emperor 
within the second moat of the castle. A Saturday- 
afternoon becomes well merged in the gloaming 
before the lovely lawns, the bamboo groves, the 
picturesque tea-houses, and the shadowy cascades 
have been sufficiently admired. Another afternoon 
can be profitably spent at Hamagoten, the Imperial 
Gardens on the shores of the bay. These are 
smaller than the former, but are more finished. 

When the cherry groves and the avenues of 
Mukojima are in full bloom, he can take a boat up 
the Sumida, and spend a delightful afternoon in 
walking down vistas of swaying blossoms that over- 
hang the river banks for nearly a mile. Hither 
flock the Mite of Tokio upon every sunny after- 
noon, and spread themselves out for an unlimited 
treat of tea and cakes upon the verandas of the 
tea-houses that line the river, or upon the stone 
seats amid the box-wood copses. 

It is also considered the " correct thing" to visit 
the native theater at Shimabara two or three times 
during the season. The play commences at eight 
o'clock in the morning and closes at six o'clock in 
the afternoon, frequently requiring many days to 
render a single tragedy. The natives take their 
dinners along with them and eat in the building. 
The Japanese are consummate actors. Their 



TOKIO. 159 

farces and comedies are capital. The tragic acting, 
however, I can not say so much for. There is so 
much sameness and bloodshed connected with it 
that you never care to see much of it. The 
enunciation is very clear and distinct. The ges- 
tures, from a Japanese stand-point, are certainly ex- 
cellent. The tragic portions of their plots are very 
monotonous. It is usually the same old story. A 
hot-blooded samurai becomes insulted in some un- 
pardonable manner — although as to what consti- 
tutes an insult in the eyes of a young top-knot 
thirsting for glory is by no means clear. A solemn 
gathering of friends then takes place, and the 
frightful provocation is duly discussed. After the 
regulation amount of " narahodoing" the wrathful 
Don Quixote furiously announces his determina- 
tion for blood, b-1-l-o-o-d ! Nobly said ! Blood must 
be had ! Sticking his vengeful blade into his belt, 
he then swaggers off to find his enemy, who is 
usually accommodating enough to be asleep, or up 
to his chin boiling in a bath-tub. An amount of 
promiscuous chopping and scientific hacking then 
ensues that is supposed to thrill the soul of chivalry 
with the very essence of admiration. Arms, legs, 
thumbs, ears, slices of calf and thigh strew the 
stage, to the unbounded approbation of the enrapt- 
ured house. And during this scuffle the stage-boy 
(supposed to be invisible) comes out and removes 
the clogs that have been kicked off by the furious 
combatants, so as to have them ready for the next 
scene. After this, the hero himself becomes the 



l6o LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

victim, to the unfeigned grief of the old ladies in 
the pit, for the friends of the minced man take up 
the quarrel, and arise in wrathful indignation and 
smite the slayer some dark night, make an elaborate 
example of him as he had done with his enemy, 
and then tumble the remains into a river repre- 
sented by a painted board ; while the moon, repre- 
sented by a round paper lantern, is let down from 
the roof, and the scene looks melancholy enough 
amid the tolling of the monastery bells. So the 
quarrel, thus thoroughly inaugurated, is taken up 
by the relatives, and mutual extermination horrifies 
the house for weeks to come. The tragedy usually 
ends at three or four o'clock in the afternoon. 
Then a farce is acted, so as to restore cheerfulness 
to the house before breaking up for the day. 

We Americans here usually celebrate the Fourth 
of July. We sometimes have a ball at the Lega- 
tion, or have a dinner at the Uyeno Park. These 
occasions are always exceedingly jolly. 

Our summer vacations we usually spend in trav- 
eling. I will make this the subject of a future 
letter. 

After a stay of two years in Tokio you begin to 
find the time hanging very heavily. You have ex- 
hausted all the pleasure to be derived from wrest- 
ling, horse-racing, and theatricals. Your study of 
the native literature has reached that point where 
you find it destitute of elevating thought. You 
settle down to reading the history of the country 
and keeping up with the news of the day. You do 



TOKIO. l6l 

everything mechanically, and it becomes difficult 
to entice you out of your den. A kind of indolent 
mental torpor seems to settle down upon you. 
You derive infinite comfort from loafing on your 
veranda, dozing over the last home mail, and dis- 
cussing the latest scandal. Old residents here are 
rare gossips. But thanks to the letters I have to 
write to you, I hope not to drift into this imbecile 
method of thought. I trust that I shall not de- 
velop any remarkable keenness in becoming con- 
versant with the private affairs of the community 
at large. 

I certainly shall not become a member of that 
" outside committee " that sits in judgment on 
every breath of scandal, and constitutes a most in- 
defatigable agency for the propagation thereof. 

I think I have answered all your questions. 
Resting assured that I have endeavored to do so, I 
am, 

Truly yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 



LETTER X. 

SCHOOL-TEACHING IN TOKIO. 

Tokio, July 10, 1875. 

Dear Julius Marcellus : 

In my last letter I promised to tell you a little 
more about school-teaching here. 

In no part of Japan are the schools so thor- 
oughly organized as they are in Tokio. The for- 
eigners connected with the schools in Japan num- 
ber about a hundred. Of these, at least fifty are 
here in the metropolis. The highest salary paid is 
nine hundred dollars per month. This sum is paid 
to the heads of the engineering and educational de- 
partments. One of these gentlemen is a Scotch- 
man, and the other is an American. 

The professors in the colleges receive between 
two hundred and fifty and four hundred dollars per 
month. The usual salary for teaching English is 
about two thousand dollars per year. 

Of course these high salaries will not last many 
years. As educated Japanese return from abroad, 
the number of Europeans in government employ 
will be gradually reduced, and in twenty-five 
years I doubt if there will be a dozen Europeans 
in the schools here. 




THE KAGO. 



SCHOOL-TEACHING IN TOKIO. 163 

The government has also established schools in 
Yokohama, Nagasaki, Osaca, Niigata, Kioto, and a 
few inland cities. But the number of European 
teachers in each of these places will not exceed six ; 
and in some of them only one is stationed. This 
estimate, of course, does not include private schools 
and mission schools. 

The expense of keeping up this school system 
cannot cost the government less than half a mill- 
ion dollars per year. All the books, charts, globes, 
ink, pens, and the usual school apparatus are im- 
ported. They are furnished to the scholars at al- 
most nominal prices. The tuition is free. A 
Japanese student pays from seventy-five cents to 
two dollars per month. There is but one school 
that charges two dollars, for very few can afford to 
pay this sum outside of their personal expendi- 
tures. 

Instruction is conducted altogether in English. 
A new class will at first have some difficulty in 
comprehending you. But after a few weeks they 
master the phraseology and technical terms of each 
branch of study so as to be able to recite and con- 
verse very intelligently. Conversation here is made 
a special study. Text-books have been prepared 
containing English idioms and phrases. Some of 
these books have been compiled by native authors ; 
and some of the expressions therein used are very 
amusing. 

In teaching, you will find the scholars very tract- 
able. The teachers are not allowed to chastise. 



1 64 LE T TERS EROM JAPAN. 

This method of suasion, in fact, is a species of bar- 
barism that they have not yet copied from our 
civilized home schools. It never pays to lose tem- 
per or patience with Japanese. They have a thor- 
ough contempt for any one unable to control him- 
self. In managing your classes, the most effective 
instrument is a mild touch of irony or sarcasm 
judiciously administered. They are as sensitive to 
this as mettlesome horses are to the touch of a 
lash. But if too often used, you will soon find the 
tables turned, for they also are expert at this kind 
of thing. 

When a boy is incorrigibly lazy, you will find it 
an excellent idea to keep him standing an hour or 
so at the map trying to find obscure places. Should 
he attempt to lean against a desk, gently call his 
attention to the fact that government property was 
not made for such purposes. Should he attempt 
to lean against the wall, intimate that both his per- 
son and the wall will become thereby soiled, — a re- 
sult not to be desired, because of the financial con- 
dition of the country at large. The unhappy youth 
then continues his work with great melancholy and 
lack of enthusiasm. 

The ages of my scholars average fifteen. They 
are all of the samurai class. As a rule, they are 
very polite and docile. They are particularly clever 
in mathematics. In grammar and analysis they 
stand well. In applied English they are fair. In 
Japanese and Chinese they are instructed by native 
teachers, and, as a rule, are good. 



SCHOOL-TEACHING IN TOKIO. 1 65 

They do not board in the school, but come from 
considerable distances. Some of them live four 
miles off, and most of them live at a distance of 
two miles. They always walk back and forth. 
At a quarter to nine every morning you hear the 
ceaseless clatter of about two hundred pairs of 
clogs coming through the massive gateway. Their 
lunch is a ball of cold rice with the inevitable salt 
radish and fish. They are hard students, but I 
do not think their diet will allow them to stand as 
much continuous hard study as our students at 
home can stand. They are much troubled with 
weak eyes. They use candle-light mostly ; some 
use kerosene lamps. 

I find it very interesting teaching them applied 
English. They have innumerable questions to ask 
about our institutions and customs. They also 
ask very many questions about Christianity. I 
never knew how thoroughly saturated our literature 
and history were with Christian thought and senti- 
ment until I began to teach these people. Some 
of the pages in a poem or review will require so 
much explanation that my teaching almost becomes 
a Bible lesson. The use of the term Creator, or 
nature's first cause, will suggest a line of inquiry 
that will take up an hour easily. Why do the 
books speak of a Creator ? Because the average 
reasoning community in Christian countries accept 
the fact that there is one. Can they prove this? 
They can prove it so as to satisfy reasonable belief. 
How ? By the theory of probabilities. There are 



1 66 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

two suppositions. Either all things came by chance, 
or they came by design. Now is it more probable 
that the vast machinery of the universe came by 
chance or by design ? By design, of course. Then 
does not design betoken intelligence? And does 
not intelligent designing betoken a Creator? Yes. 
Then is it not the most probable and reasonable 
theory that the world was made by a Creator ? To 
this they readily assent. But then comes a flood 
of questions about Christianity. Why should 
Christianity be called the true religion ? Because 
it contains the most perfect code of morality. If 
the Creator made man with such vast powers for 
good and evil, is it not reasonable to suppose that 
he would give him a law whereby to regulate his 
thoughts and actions? And does not Christianity 
answer this purpose perfectly? Can you compare 
Buddhism and Brahminism with it ? Compare those 
countries that have been under Buddhism and 
Brahminism with those that have been under 
Christianity, and will you not find the Christian 
ones much more elevated ? Then is it not reason- 
able and probable to suppose that the Creator gave 
the Christian religion to man ? And when the 
Bible itself calls it the true religion, why should we 
not believe it ? 

They are so ready to ask questions on these 
points that you sometimes are obliged to check 
them. Some of them have read Mill and other 
infidel authors, and are well up in all the hack- 
neyed objections. They are very quick to see 



SCHOOL-TEACHING IN TOKIO. 1 67 

single points, but they do not follow a succes- 
sion of points down to a conclusion tenaciously 
or logically. They are clear and bright, and 
can suggest difficulties about as easily as they can 
breathe. But they are always ready to laugh at 
their exposed fallacies, and are very good-natured 
under rough handling. They possess any amount 
of self confidence, and are always ready to enter 
upon the discussion of any subject that may arise. 
The nonchalance and eagerness with which they 
discuss weighty subjects is interesting. If they 
fail to carry a point, they are rather amused at hav- 
ing made as good a fight as they did. When a 
hard lesson is on hand, some of them are rather 
inclined to talk against time. 

During the midday recess, they are as noisy as 
you please. They romp all over the school-yard 
playing tag. With their petticoats on, they look 
more like a lot of girls at play. Some of the pleas- 
ure-loving ones are apt to slip off and cut the 
afternoon session. They dearly love to go with their 
friends to the tea gardens at Mukojima and Uyeno, 
where they can discuss tobacco and foreigners with 
endless comments. It takes a long time to break 
them of this habit. They are puzzled to know why 
the teacher should care about this regular attend- 
ance so long as he is paid anyway. One of the 
boys was incorrigible on this point, and as a punish- 
ment he was sentenced by one of the teachers to 
stay after school and write a composition on idle- 
ness. The youth evidently never exerted himself 



1 68 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

to do justice to the subject. Here is a verbatim 
copy of this remarkable document : 

" IDLENESS. 

fi I have a very great refuse for the letter, Idle- 
ness, which now I made up the composition ; be- 
cause the idleness prevented for a task of all the 
people, and he was persuaded to induce in his idle 
party, but was never fall on his hand. When I was 
learning in any private school at last year, any idle 
came to my room, how do you not swing in a play 
place ? ' he sales.' Yeas' I reply and I did so that 
with he. how do you not take a walk in a street ? 
again, yeas I reply, and soon, how do you not see 
a spectacle ? he " saies " too again, no ! then I 
reply, how do you not go an eating house ? he 
"saies" too more, no! reply I. when all pupil 
recite a meaning for each lesson, he saies always I 
cannot, or I did not prepare ! " why do you not so 
study " I asked, because I can not endure heat 
or cold " he saies, I dleam all saies thus, therefore 
he spends the gold hour in vain, and he could not 
succeed his purpose wherefore I was very refused to 
describe it. 

" Diligent men were overpower on a poverty, 
heat, cold." 

Another naughty boy produced this on the same 
subject : 

" IDLENESS. 

" There are an Idleness and Industrious in the 



SCHOOL-TEACHING IN TOKIO. 1 69 

world and Idleness is more than Industrious, but in 
the uncivilized countries is not so much because 
this would studies for several lesson — and to dis- 
cover for several thing and food which is very good 
for bodies and shall not become to Idleness but 
while is very Idlemen I supposed that it shall be- 
come & industrious from their character if their 
father and mother shall be right character and also 
right conscience. In Japan the food is very as you 
know — and Idlemen shall never move and go to 
play to and for when they finished to eat food, as 
soon shall sleep therefore in Japan Idleness are 
there great but Japanese commenced to civilization 
therefore Idlemen becamed to little number and 
their begun to go to school. 

" This composition is bad and mistaken to not 
know the meaning of Idleness and I was sick there- 
fore can not so good but I think always, it is 
wrong." 

Every Monday morning the whole school must 
bring in compositions. Some of the scholars are 
very nice writers. The penmanship usually is very 
fine. Some compose as well as boys of a corre- 
sponding age at home. They are, of course, not al- 
ways idiomatic, but the pleasure-loving ones do 
not make a very brilliant success at this essay 
writing. Saturday and Sunday they spend in hav- 
ing a good time with their companions, then 
they get a book and craftily plagiarize some sen- 
tences hurriedly selected. I send you literal copies 



I 70 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

of some of these essays sent in by the notorious 
truants of our school. They should serve as a ter- 
rible warning to lazy boys through all time to 
come. 



NO. I. — COMPOSITION ON THE BENEFITS OF POLICE. 

" Police is a warlike and brave man and he have 
big and long stick with which he defenses a blow 
of a robber. Activity of a police is alway noticed 
in every newspaper. The most warlike and bravest 
fights eighteen robbers who were drest with the 
drawn swords and he defenses himself with a stick 
and at last, he takes them as prisoners. When 
there is a fire a police works like a fireman and 
tumbles down a houses with his stick. A police 
goes before a person who carries baggages at a fire 
in order to drive away the spectators so that he 
carries them easily and quickly. If a person pre- 
vents a police's or a fireman's work, the police beats 
him or uses him to carry the water or to push a 
pump, therefore I cannot stand heedlessly by see- 
ino- a fire." 



No. 2. 

Another one sent in the following poetry, highly 
eulogistic of the policemen : 

" We can't think their hardships in walking when 

snowing or raining without rest. 
When the midnight storm disturb our dream, 
We see them in watch under nature's dome : 



SCHOOL-TEACHING IN TOKIO. 171 

When the sun begin to rise in his majestic light, 
We meet them walking regardless severe cold of 
heat." (!!!) 



No. 3. 

" Police is the regulation of city or policeman is 
one of the constabulary force, who is officer in 
Japan : the rule are make very hard to him, be- 
cause in the among them like an idle rosal, (?) but 
half of their are study, and so I think so that. The 
police man is very much necessary for the people, 
because he is defeat in city for every days and 
night, when the policeman saw the thief or bad 
man, he is soonly taken prisoner and bringing to 
the station of police then they are wants the inves- 
tigation ; also here is a foolish man, who is fall 
down into the river to die, it is very scarcely in 
Japan ; and all thing of street engage to the police ; 
the number in the station of police are about one 
hundred and number of about eighteen one thou- 
sand, among them Satsama, Jesso are nearly above 
them engaged to him, because they are savage and 
warlike countries people in Japan, and so they are 
strong men ; then the foolish man or thief man 
less than the an ancient time, so that people are 
glad of it." 



NO. 4. — HISTORY. 
" History is most important for a human to re- 
member a past condition of ancient world, and the 



I 72 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

history is one kind in the part of a science, there- 
fore when a man learned the history would he ani- 
mate his intellect ; and the history has remarkable 
worth for a education that is led to goodness a peo- 
ple, the reader imargin Napoleon, Washington & 
Taiko they how do that do, and practice their good 
conduct, and they would not take a- double wrong 
for a old instance. But have no history in barbaric 
country, therefore they knows nothing but savage 
or fight ; therefore I think that all the science 
would had been led from the history." 



NO. 5. — USES OF THE ENGINEERING COLLEGE. 

" College of Engineering which put in a Japan 
that it is used for countries if it would not be there 
people can not have mean to dig gold, silver, iron 
and other metals in the mountains & there are sev- 
eral way of the science, in the College of ingineer- 
ing. Now shall not describe of name & mean of 
the science for have no time because I had my 
father business. We shall wish to enter in College 
of Ingineering ; great examination for next year." 

In closing my letter, it is but fair to remark that 
but few compositions are so atrocious as the fore- 
going. 

Truly yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 




THE TOMB OF TOKUGAWA IVEVAS, NIKKO TEMPLES. 



LETTER XL 

A SUMMER VACATION. 

Tokio, September io, 1875. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

I SPENT my last vacation in making a tour 
through the interior. This is about the only way 
we have of spending our holidays. During August 
there is a general exodus of foreigners from Tokio 
into the interior. Some of us journey over to the 
west coast. Some of us go down the Nakasendo 
(Inland Road), or Tokaido (Coast Road) to Kioto. 
Others roam through the mountains of Shinano and 
Mino. While the majority visit Hakone, Fujisan, 
and Nikko. We do not have any great centers of 
fashionable resort like Saratoga and Newport, 
where the sultry summer days can be spent in sip- 
ping mineral waters and lemonade upon cool ve- 
randas and shady lawns. Our summer recreations 
usually consist of a long tramp through the moun- 
tains. These trips require much preparation and 
planning. The selection of a route occupies at 
least a week. Then you must lay in a supply of 
canned fruits and vegetables, and some ham and 
dried beef ; and you must look up a traveling com- 
panion with whom to have a few animated discus- 



I 74 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

sions upon the road. The natives have a great 
advantage over us in making these excursions. 
They merely pick up their heels and walk. A 
handkerchief will hold everything they need on the 
road, and they are the best-natured companions 
imaginable. Being very fond of pilgrimages to 
places of religious note, they also swarm through 
the country during the summer. The objects and 
places of veneration are varied. Sometimes it is a 
volcanic cone that has become the residence of a 
goddess ; sometimes it is a shrine overlooking a 
wild ravine ; or, perhaps, it is a cave by the sea- 
shore, the haunt of some water-witch ; .or it may 
be a lake romantically embosomed amid some lofty 
ranges where a gongen, or mountain spirit, plays 
the mischief with the winds and the rains, sending 
them storming across the plains with fearful fury 
unless properly propitiated with yearly offerings. 

When the snow has melted from Fujisan, thou- 
sands will scale its stupendous cone, place their of- 
ferings beside the shrines near the crater, worship 
the sun as he rises from the waves, and gaze upon 
the clouds floating thousands of feet beneath. 
While the rice is yet green upon the stalks and the 
crops are maturing for the autumnal gleaning, the 
worthy peasant, with about three dollars in his 
pocket for traveling expenses and religious contri- 
butions, grasps his filleted staff and sets out upon 
a tramp of about two hundred miles, visiting all 
places of sacred interest on the way ; and in about 
a fortnight he returns with sufficient unction to 



A SUMMER VACATION. I 75 

last a year, — for you must remember that the 
masses are devout. Some have visited all the 
noted shrines in the empire, taking a couple of 
years or so for the undertaking. These pilgrim- 
ages, however, were almost entirely confined to the 
lower classes. The samurai rarely felt inclined to 
go tramping and sweating over the country at the 
beck of sleek, oily priests that might chance to 
have empty coffers. These gentlemen were dis- 
posed to be fastidious in their tastes, visiting only 
the most fashionable places, taking their own time, 
and abundantly consulting individual comfort. 
Their favorite resort was the celebrated shrines of 
Nikko, situated in the heart of the central moun- 
tain system of Japan, about ninety miles north of 
Tokio. The locality is a tangled maze of glens, 
wild ravines, cascades, woods, temples, and moun- 
tain torrents. All the streams of the neighboring 
ranges seem to meet in the vicinity, forming a de- 
lightfully cool summer retreat. Ancient supersti- 
tion has fixed this as the abode of certain gongen, 
whose patronage is greatly to be desired, and whose 
wrath must be assiduously appeased. The uneasy 
hurricane winds that dwell in the misty caverns be- 
side Chiusenji Lake hard by, and which often im- 
petuously sally forth, tearing the thatch from the 
roofs and flinging the grain prostrate in the mire, 
are a source of grievous complaint, and need fre- 
quent exorcisms and secret ceremonies to secure 
them within their dripping chambers. 

The shrines of Nikko are unparalleled for sym- 



I 76 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

metry of proportion, elegance and variety of de- 
sign, and richness of lacquering. 

As these temples were on my summer pro- 
gramme, I will now allow the pages of my journal 
to describe my visit to them. I also hope that you 
will get something of an idea how we spend our 
vacations here. 

July 23.— Not yet daylight. We must be off 
so as to avoid the heat of the day. Have routed 
Jack out of bed. We send the boy on ahead 
so as to have dinner ready for us at midday. 
Our clothing and provisions are stowed in a sep- 
arate jinriksha. Off at last ! We are far beyond 
Uyeno before the chill has begun to leave the 
morning air. A few early risers are sliding back 
their doors and rendering the premises vocal with 
their stentorian yawnings. We run along the 
Oshiukaido for about eighteen miles. The road is 
flanked by paddy fields as far as the eye can reach. 
Take dinner at a village. The butter and the currie 
powder got hopelessly mixed up by the breaking 
of the bottles. We sit on the mats and dine off 
bread, roast chicken, and cheese. Small boy is 
watching us through the fence. Jack asks him if 
he is hungry. Boy wilts. Jack wonders why 
foreigners can not make a living off rice. He tries 
some. Jack ceases to wonder. Jack tries to eat 
with chop-sticks. Landlady laughs. She wants to 
taste the pickled cabbage and crackers. Pro- 
nounces them kekko (splendid). Boy then washes 
the knives and forks, and we are ready to start 



A SUMMER VACATION. I 77 

again. Call for the bill. It is four times too much. 
Jack mildly expostulates with the landlord. He 
replies that all foreigners pay such prices. Jack 
says he is not a fool, and advises the landlord not 
to be one. The landlord then comes down one- 
half. Jack then says that he is a Mombusho official 
of the seventh grade, and threatens to report the 
extortion at Tokio. Landlord then comes to terms. 
We prepare to depart. The landlord and his 
family then escort us to the street and request us 
to patronize them on our return. Continue our 
journey. Road much the same as in the morning. 
Villages numerous. The summer costume of peo- 
ple similar to that prevailing around Hirosaki. The 
men have only three feet of narrow cloth about the 
waist. Only the lower classes are thus exposed. 
At dusk we reach a large village on the banks of 
the Tonegawa. Cross in a flat-bottomed boat. 
Spend the night at a small village on the other 
bank. Sleep under a net. Find the native pillows 
very hard. Are much bothered with a bad odor 
from the drains. We request the rain-doors to be 
left open all night. The landlady says she is afraid 
the dogs will come in. But we carry our point. At 
midnight I am awaked by the foulness of the air, 
and find she has slyly shut them. Open them 
again. 

July 24. — Breakfasted at daylight. The road 
merges into a cool and lovely avenue of pine trees. 
The country is becoming more interesting. It un- 
dulates gradually toward the distant mountains. 
12 



I 78 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Wheat fields and wood lands take the place of rice 
flats. Our road is now a stately vista that winds 
like a serpent across the fields and through the 
woods. With but trifling interruptions, it continues 
for fifty miles until it loses itself in the mountains. 
We walk and eat water-melons. The swarded 
banks beside the road make lovely seats. It's 
getting warm. We reduce our toilette down to 
trowsers and singlets. Every mile or so we quaff 
hot tea at little booths beneath the trees. Jack 
keeps up his smoking. Japanese dogs are spoilt. 
They lie right in the road, and never think of 
getting out of the way. The kind-hearted coolies 
never think of hurting them, and always pull 
their vehicles to one side. Then they scold the 
dog, and he wags his tail. Jack takes a load of 
pebbles and keeps distributing them in advance. 
Effect good. One pampered hound, however, re- 
fuses to stir. The coolies turn to one side. But 
the wheel of Jack's vehicle passes over the gently 
wagging tail. Dog went to the top of the embank- 
ment at one leap. Seemed to be completely de- 
moralized and discouraged. Everybody regards it 
as the best joke of the season — dog excepted. 
Reach Utso-no-miya at dusk. Only fourteen miles 
from Nikko. We wait a couple of hours for them 
to change the water in the bath-tub. While this is 
being done, we hear a tremendous row downstairs. 
A large party of foreigners from Tokio are having 
a row with their coolies. They are not fluent in 
the vernacular, and the coolies are trying to impose 



A SUMMER VACATION. 1 79 

upon them. Thus it is the world over. Cheat the 
stranger ! Fleece him ! Consider him legitimate 
plunder! Curtain falls. 

July 25. — The landlord says we are twenty-two 
miles from Nikko. Distances in Japan are elastic. 
The avenue becomes yet more imposing. Its deep 
shade is cooled by the streamlets bubbling along 
the roadside. Meet a couple of colleagues return- 
ing to Tokio. We reach the village by midday. 
The shrines are beyond it. The village is situated 
upon a long slope, and in itself is not interesting. 
A stream from the mountains comes tumbling 
down through the middle of the street. It forms 
a convenient reservoir for the town. Quite a num- 
ber of fox, hare, and deer skins are exposed for sale 
in the shops. Our pretty hotel is some distance up 
town. The terms are seventy-five, cents a day. A 
native would pay less than half this sum. There's 
no help. All the hotel keepers are in league. Civ- 
ilization is gradually striking in. 

July 26. — We start off to see the far-famed tem- 
ples. They are buried in deep forests about a mile 
up the mountain side. Passing up to the end of the 
long, straggling street, we come to a wild ravine 
through which fiercely rushes a frothing torrent 
from the highlands. Two bridges span the chasm. 
One is intended for common use. The other was 
intended for the Shogun and his envoys. It is 
finished off with the finest red lacquer. The guide 
book (I wish all journals would specify what por- 
tions are derived from guide books) narrates a 



l8o LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

curious legend about this gorge. Shodo Shionin, a 
Buddhist priest of the eighth century, chanced to 
pass this way with his disciples. He saw no 
bridge, and found it impossible to ford the boiling 
rapids, rendered doubly dangerous by the timber 
plunging amid the eddies. While supplicating the 
gods to extricate him from this dilemma, he indis- 
tinctly beheld through the mist the god Shinsha 
Daio, on the opposite shore, holding two green and 
red snakes which he cast over the abyss. A long 
bridge instantly spanned the flood " like a rainbow 
floating among the hills." The bewildered priest 
was inclined to doubt his senses, but seeing the 
grass growing between the planks, he was con- 
vinced, and passed over. Immediately after cross- 
ing they were astonished to find that the bridge, 
the grass, and the god had vanished ! 

From this sacred bridge many paths branch 
away in all directions, leading to numberless roman- 
tic spots hidden away in the deep gloom of the 
groves. For miles around, wherever a cascade 
dashes down some sequestered ravine ; wherever a 
mountain stream, widening in the glens, gives 
glimpses of unusual beauty; wherever some spring, 
slipping from the oozy fissures beneath some crag, 
comes tumbling down the vale — there you will find 
fantastic shrines in honor of some saint or gongen. 
Weeks could be spent in following up these various 
paths. Following the road up for some distance 
through the woods we come to the temples of 
Iyeyas. They are built upon four terraces on the 



A SUMMER VACATION. l8l 

mountain side. The terraces are about fifteen feet 
above each other, and are connected by flights of 
stone steps. Cryptomeria groves of superb propor- 
tions cast a deep shade over the place. The en- 
tire premises are surrounded with a wooden wall 
lacquered in red and capped with bronze tiles. 
There are ten main buildings scattered over the 
different terraces, besides many smaller ones. All 
are built of kayake, the finest hard wood in Japan. 
All are roofed with thin bronze tiles, and all are so 
elaborately lacquered and gilded that none of the 
underlying wood-work is to be seen. The natives 
say that it took a boat-load of gold from Sendai to 
furnish the gilding. However that may be, it is 
certain that the resources of the empire were placed 
at the disposal of the builders. 

The first terrace is approached by a long, sloping 
vista. On this terrace we find an elegant vermil- 
ion-colored pagoda. It is covered with the gilded 
crests of Tokugawa. A large granite torii (bird- 
perch) and some tea booths constitute the remain- 
ing structures. 

We enter the second terrace through a handsome 
gateway. Before us are three structures of exquis- 
ite proportions and finish. In them were stored 
the paraphernalia and Sanskrit literature of the 
temples {Guide Book). Also, when the Shogun 
came to worship the shades of the great Iyeyas, 
his retainers tarried therein, while their " barbarian 
exterminating lord " went up to the private chapel 
on the fourth terrace. But the building that in- 



1 82 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

variably excites the stranger's keenest interest is 
the very stylish stable used by my lord's horse. It 
is elegantly made. Each rafter is tipped with orna- 
mented brass and stamped with the royal crest. It 
is so thoroughly exhausted by the guide-book that 
I shall not describe it. My only regret is that such 
sumptuous accommodations should have been pro- 
vided for a knavish betto and a vile, hammer-headed 
pony. 

Passing under a massive bronze torii we enter the 
third terrace. On either hand stands a graceful, 
airy belfry, faultless as regards symmetry and 
shape. Several bronze lanterns are arranged along 
the side. During the summer festivals, when the 
ceremonies were prolonged beyond twilight, they 
were lit up. Here also are some massive bronze 
candelabra presented by the Dutch. The guide- 
book suggests that they were sacked from some 
Roman Catholic cathedral in the Spanish Nether- 
lands during the wars between the Catholics and 
the Reformers. 

The fourth terrace is enclosed by a paneled wall 
about eight feet high, abounding with decorations. 
Before us stands the famous Yomei gate. (See 
frontispiece.) It has exhausted the art and inge- 
nuity of the architect. It is a bewildering maze of 
tracery. For beauty of design and prodigality of 
decoration, it is matchless. It is equally lovely 
whether glittering in the sunlight or shimmering in 
the moonbeams. The railing of its balcony is sup- 
ported by dragons' heads. Just above the portal 



A SUMMER VACATION. 1 83 

are two white dragons linked in terrific combat. 
Underneath you see groups of children playing. 
Beneath these are clusters of Chinese sages in vari- 
ous philosophical attitudes, such as only Chinese 
philosophers can assume. The dragons, upholding 
the massive roof, with their flaming eyes and gap- 
ing crimson jaws, seem to be on the qui vive for 
evil spirits. 

Going through the gateway we enter the court- 
yard where stands the chapel of Iyeyas. It is an 
architectural gem. Gable-ends, ridge pole, eaves, 
rafters, and the very planking of the floor, exhibit 
the consummation of native skill. For a full de- 
scription of it, I refer you to Satow's Guide-Book 
which I send you by this mail. 

The tomb of Iyeyas is further up the mountain 
side. We ascend a long flight of moss-grown steps. 
At the top, in the melancholy woods, is the weird 
bronze monument that marks the spot where rest 
the ashes of the great law-giver. It is somber and 
plain. I cannot think of anything with which to 
compare it. The historic interest, however, forms 
a sufficient attraction. The martial pines stand 
around in close array as if to guard Gongen-Sama 
in his long rest. He was the heart and soul of 
Japanese feudalism. What the tomb of the Proph- 
et is to the Moslem, such was the sepulcher of 
Tokugawa Iyeyas to the samurai. Antiquity bears 
testimony to the reverence that has ever been paid 
to the memory of the dead. Mausoleums, pyra- 
mids, and pillars, built at prodigal expense, com- 



184 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

memorate the deeds of ancient heroes. The pride 
of Halicarnassus, the surpassing glories of the Taj, 
and the matchless beauty of the Nikko shrines 
equally testify to the appreciative character of 
mankind in widely separated countries. During 
the days of the Shogunate, swarms of samurai 
flocked hither to worship the shades and propitiate 
the favor of the departed with becoming offerings 
and ceremonies. But the great dynasty has fallen, 
and the pageantry that formerly streamed along 
the great vista, exacting cringing deference from 
the wayside folk, has faded away forever ; and the 
beauties of the place only excite unpleasant mem- 
ories in the minds of those who love the good days 
when the trusty sword was the "samurai's living 
. 

July 27. — We visit the shrines of Iyemitsu, grand- 
son of Iyeyas. They are about half a mile from 
those described yesterday. A long avenue through 
the woods connects the two. As they resemble 
the shrines of Iyeyas in almost every particular, I 
shall not describe them. 

July 28. — Visited several shrines of minor im- 
portance scattered through the forests. Some of 
them are of rare beauty. 

July 29. — We followed one of the paths that 
twists off from the Sacred Bridge and goes winding 
through the thickets. We follow it up to where it 
madly hurls itself through a narrow gorge. Here 
we find upwards of one hundred and twenty large 
stone images of Buddha in Nirvana. They are ar- 



A SUMMER VACATION. 1 85 

ranged along the shady bank in an extended line 
facing the water. With dreamy eyes they seem to 
watch the spray that floats from the foaming cur- 
rent. The Guide Book asserts that in counting 
these images, no two persons will return the same 
figures. Jack and I made an elaborate attempt to 
get the same result. He began at one end, and I 
began at the other end. While counting we placed 
our canes upon each figure. " What do you make ? " 
said I. " One hundred and twenty-seven/' said he. 
"One hundred and twenty-five," said L We try 
again. " One hundred and twenty-four," said he. 
" One hundred and twenty-two," said I. We then 
appealed to a Japanese, and he said the correct 
number was one hundred and twenty-three. He 
then counts them himself in order to show us, and 
comes out one hundred and twenty-one ! We give 
it up as a bad job. One gets confused at the 
similarity of the faces and at the noise of the roar- 
ing torrent. Besides this several of the small 
images are overgrown with grass, and you are al- 
most sure to overlook some. 

July 30. — We decide to visit Chiusenji Lake and 
the cascades, seven miles or so further up the moun- 
tain side. We get off early. The road leads 
through gorges and ravines of the most savage 
grandeur, where the foaming torrents from the 
lake thunder at the feet of dizzy cliffs and shiver 
themselves into spray against the massive bowlders 
that have fallen from the heights above. 

A steep climb up the side of the mountain brings 



1 86 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

us to an elevated plateau about four thousand feet 
above sea level. On the right rises the volcanic 
crest of Nantaisan, looking out upon the distant 
Pacific nearly eight thousand feet beneath. In the 
plateau is embosomed lovely Chiusenji Lake, en- 
circled by densely wooded hills. It is seven miles 
long, and is very deep. It is said to contain no 
fish. Upon its border is a village, which is occu- 
pied by thousands of pilgrims during the summer. 
But when the winter has settled down upon the 
mountain, freezing the lake and filling the glens 
with snow, then the houses are utterly deserted. 

The cascades in this vicinity are of peerless 
beauty and pleasing variety. The outlet of the 
lake, after winding through several hundred yards 
of woods and tangled underbrush, falls seven hun- 
dred and fifty feet into a fearful abyss. The width 
of the cascade at the top is about fifteen feet. But 
it spreads out into a comet-like cloud of spray long 
before it reaches the bottom. You can but faintly 
hear it as it falls whispering into the dark pool be- 
neath. On three sides the rocks descend sheer, 
thus encircling the boiling gulf and presenting an 
appearance of hideous grandeur. A tea booth 
perched upon the brink of the chasm furnishes a 
superb outlook. The dense woods grow up to the 
very edge, as if the monstrous shaft had been sunk 
with precision and care. It is called the Kegeon- 
no-taki — taki meaning cascade. We lunched on 
the border of the lake in a native hotel. There are 
quite a number of pilgrims in the village. 




GLIMPSE OF CHIUSENJI LAKE. 



A SUMMER VACATION. 1 87 

It is very cool up here. The breeze rippling the 
lake is really chilly. In the afternoon we walked 
through the woods bordering the shore up to 
Umoto, at the upper end of the lake. About five 
hundred feet above the level of the main lake is a 
much smaller one that discharges its overflowing 
waters into it by a series of magnificent cascades. 
The lowest one is called the Cascade of the Dragon's 
Head. The upper one is that of the Boiling 
Waters. It comes sliding down an inclined plane 
of black rocks, and plunges into a gloomy pool be- 
neath. The scenery here is enrapturing. 

As we were dallying around these lovely places, 
a heavy shower overtook us, and the path became 
ankle-deep with mud. They say that it rains every 
afternoon up here during the summer. 

By nightfall we had waded through the last pud- 
dle, and had crossed the little bridge into the vil- 
lage of Umoto. Here are innumerable sulphur 
springs, celebrated for medicinal qualities. During 
the summer the place is filled with invalids. It is, 
in fact, a village of hotels. Here I saw for the first 
time that common institution of former times — 
promiscuous bathing. Persons of both sexes, ut- 
terly regardless of apparel and modesty, flock out 
from the baths to look at the strangers. 

We found considerable difficulty in finding 
rooms, for the hotels were full, but finally suc- 
ceeded. We soon donned Japanese garments lent 
us by the landlord while ours were drying. It is 
fun to watch the people from the veranda. Many 



1 88 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

of them have never seen foreigners. They were 
very respectful in their observations, however. 
They were all engaged in amusing themselves: 
some in playing chess on the verandas of the 
hotels ; some in boating on the lake ; some in read- 
ing aloud so as to be heard over half the village ; 
some were boiling in the mineral vats in the street ; 
but the majority were sipping tea, smoking, and 
gossiping. This is a most popular place for soak- 
ing out rheumatism and impurities. The springs 
are far-famed. And a dreary place it is. Impene- 
trable woods, steaming pits, and three or four hours 
of rain every afternoon. Everything was saturated 
with the fumes of sulphur. The bed clothing, 
mats, food, and the very knife with which the 
melon was cut, were thoroughly impregnated with 
the disagreeable odor. The little streams pouring 
into the lake were fuming with it. 

In the winter time the springs of Umoto are 
deserted, all the hotels are closed, and the place is 
as silent and as desolate as the grave ; while the 
streets are banked with snow and the sleet drives 
through the crevices of the houses. Late in the 
spring the place is again opened. Only people 
with considerable means can afford to come, for all 
the provisions have to be brought from a distance. 

Much game abounds in the fastnesses of the un- 
frequented glens, where the profound silence is 
only broken by the music of the takis (cascades) 
and the cries of the deer and wild boar. 

In future years, when the neighborhood has been 



A SUMMER VACATION: 189 

pruned off, and a few modern institutions for con- 
venience established, the place will doubtless be- 
come a fashionable and elegant resort. 

July 31. — We bade farewell to Umoto. The 
landlord escorted us to the bridge and said good- 
bye. Returned to Nikko. 

Aug. 1. — Spend in writing up my journal and in 
revisiting the shrines. 

Aug. 2. — Stroll up the valley and call on several 
of the Tokio folks who are spending the summer 
here. They have rented a house for the season. 
We have an animated discussion over the Presiden- 
tial election. 

Aug. 3. — Visit a number of other friends who are 
scattered through the village. Some have brought 
their families and servants and have rented houses. 

Aug. 4. — Having visited the main points of in- 
terest, and, intending to visit Nagasaki this vaca- 
tion, I start back for Tokio. 

Aug. 5. — Spend on the road. 

Aug. 6. — Reached Tokio about 6 P.M. We 
were so dusty and dirty that we went sneaking 
through all the back streets so as to avoid meeting 
any acquaintances. Shall start for Nagasaki to- 
morrow. Jack is going to Hakone. 

Aug. 7. — Went down to Yokohama and procured 
my ticket. Under the P. M. S. S. Co. it would 
have cost a hundred dollars to go and return from 
Nagasaki. But under the Mitsu-Bishi Company I 
can go and return for thirty-six dollars. This com- 
pany has bought out the Pacific Mail on this line. 



I90 LET TERS FROM J A PAN. 

It bids fair in a few years to be the great maritime 
power of Asia. 

Aug. 8. — Started this afternoon for Nagasaki. 
Fine sail down the bay. 

Aug. 9. — We are steaming along finely. The 
coast is only a few miles to larboard. Late in the 
afternoon we saw a distant waterfall in the province 
of Kii. It is said to be about five hundred feet 
high. It must be very fine, for we can see it at a 
distance of twenty miles. Shall visit it the first 
chance I can get. We have a great number of pas- 
sengers aboard. In the steerage there must be five 
or six hundred ; in our after-cabin there must be at 
least a hundred. Two-thirds of these saloon pas- 
sengers are Japanese. They appear to enjoy for- 
eign travel and food immensely. Some of them 
speak English and are very sociable. All the offi- 
cers of these steamers are foreigners. The sailors 
are natives. 

Aug. 10. — Arrived at Kobe at daylight. It is 
situated near the entrance of the Inland Sea. Re- 
specting its commercial prospects, it has seen its 
best days as regards Europeans ; but it will see 
better days as regards the natives. When the port 
was opened eight years ago, European merchants 
came in with a rush. They were going to coin 
money without stint ; and a good many, no doubt, 
did so, and they lost it again. The place was 
simply overdone, and the native merchants soon 
began to take a large portion of the business. The 
European population of Kobe at present is about 



A SUMMER VACATION. 191 

two hundred, and this number will probably grow 
less as time rolls on. The Japanese population, how- 
ever, has rapidly increased, and in a few years will 
number over four hundred thousand. This place 
is a center of trade. The steamers from China and 
the Inland Sea stop here, and the produce from 
Osaca, Kioto, and the central provinces is sent 
here for shipment. The climate is almost perfect. 

Aug. 11. — We started down the Inland Sea. 
This is one of the lovely spots of earth. Three 
thousand little islands are strewn broadcast through 
a narrow channel. Shall not attempt to describe 
it. It takes about a day to steam through it, and 
it is a trip never to be forgotten. Many of the is- 
lands are under high cultivation. The villages on 
some of them are extremely picturesque. In future 
years, when wealth has rolled into the country, 
these islets will make magnificent places for villas. 

Aug. 12. — We passed Shimonoseke, the far- 
famed Shimonoseke of diplomacy. It guards the 
western entrance to the Inland Sea. When prop- 
erly fortified, it will be as formidable as Sebasto- 
pol. The situation is lovely. 

Aug. 13. — Arrived at Nagasaki last night. 

It is a singular fact that persons who have had 
only a glimpse of a place can usually tell a vastly 
more entertaining story about it than can the 
oldest inhabitant. I believe no less than a dozen 
writers have remarked that Nagasaki is very pretty. 
I make the same remark. An equal number have 
advanced the indisputable proposition that it is en- 



I92 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

circled by most picturesque hills, and has a most 
lovely harbor. All true, every word of it. And, 
moreover, the vegetation on the surrounding- hills 
is heavy and almost tropical. The climate differs 
much from that of Tokio. The winter is very 
mild : the spring is lovely ; the summer is hot ; and 
the autumn is equal to what we have in Tokio. I 
am going ashore to find the house of Mr. D., my 
missionary friend, who has kindly invited me to 
stop with him during my stay here. 

Aug. 14. — Spent in " doing up " the place. Trade 
here is very brisk. The business is mostly in the 
hands of Japanese and Chinamen. There are but 
few foreign merchants ; and, as in the other Treaty 
Ports, there is but little chance of their increasing. 

The products of this port much resemble those 
of the other ports, with the exception of tortoise- 
shell work, which may be considered a specialty of 
the place. 

The native character is rather blunt. The people 
lack the extreme politeness of the Japanese in 
general. Centuries of commerce with the Chinese, 
the Portuguese, and the Dutch, have tended to 
make them brusque in their manners. 

The foreign community is smaller than that of 
Kobe. It is so limited that considerable freedom 
of social intercourse exists. In Yokohama there is 
an upper circle arranged on the decimal scale. A 
clerk, a storekeeper, or anybody in the lower paths 
of mercantile occupation, is pronounced unclean 
and unfit to bask in the same sunshine, or breathe 



A SUMMER VACATION. 1 93 

the same atmosphere inhaled by beatified snobs, 
who are not above occasional sprees down to Kana- 
gawa. Social life in Nagasaki is apt to become 
rather monotonous after a year or so. The arrival 
of the steamers and an occasional party help some- 
what to enliven things. Boating, canoeing, and 
swimming are the favorite pastimes. The hilly 
nature of the country spoils driving and riding. 
An occasional regatta is the chief recreation of the 
amateur oarsmen. One lately came off between 
Shanghai, Kobe, and Nagasaki. Shanghai came 
prepared to row, to conquer, and to brag. But 
the other crews also displayed a remarkable pro- 
clivity for rowing. One of them conquered, and 
the other did an amount of bragging that must 
have shocked the vanquished. 

Aug. 15. — We took a boat and went down to 
Pappenberg. Those who doubt the capacity of 
the natives to be sincerely converted to Christi- 
anity will find it interesting to visit the cliff on this 
little island, where, centuries ago, hundreds of mar- 
tyrs were flung upon the rocks beneath. This is a 
famous place for picnics. 

In going around the harbor, it is interesting to 
notice the ruins of the many batteries that formerly 
swept the waters of the bay. Each promontory, 
each commanding bluff — even the melancholy crest 
of Pappenberg itself — give abundant evidence of 
the solicitude of the government to discourage for- 
eign intrusion and a reoccurrence of the bloody 
scenes that seem to have accompanied Romanism. 
13 



194 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

into all lands. This country would have been civil- 
ized by this time had the meddling monks ab- 
stained from dabbling in State affairs. 

Aug. 1 6. — We went down to the coal mines in 
Takashima, a small island at the entrance of the 
harbor. The supervisors are Europeans. The 
place is worked by a joint company of natives and 
foreign merchants. It pays well. At present they 
are flooding it. It took fire in some unknown 
manner some months ago, which could not be put 
under by ordinary methods. It is supposed that 
the earthquakes created sufficient friction to cause 
combustion in some of the obscure strata, and that 
it had been smoldering for months, for a strong 
odor of gas had been noticed for many weeks. On 
this occasion the native workmen displayed admir- 
able pluck. They crept up as close as possible to 
the fire, and held their ground until the hose drop- 
ped from their hands and they were dragged away 
insensible. On resuscitating, they would insist on 
returning to their posts. 

Aug. 1 8. — We made an excursion over the hills. 
Country lovely. The natives have some excuse for 
calling this the land of the gods. 

Aug. 19. — Played croquet. Ate water-melons. 
Drank lemonade. Very hot. No breeze. Hills 
cut off the sea air. Nagasaki is built on the wrong 
side of the bay. 

Aug. 20. — Began to think about returning to 
Tokio. 

Aug. 21. — Continued thinking. 



A SUMMER VACATION. 1 95 

Aug. 22. — Decided to start. 

Aug. 23. — Started. 

And now I must shut up my journal. I have 
given you in this letter a specimen of our methods 
of spending vacations and keeping journals. 

Don't criticise severely. Remember everything 
is strictly entre nous. In traveling, I can assure you 
it is a most wretched bore to make daily entries. 
Japanese houses never have tables. I lie flat on 
the floor when I write. 

I am very glad to see that Columbia has won the 
inter-collegiate boat-race. Harvard seems to have 
hard luck. I don't wonder at her desiring close 
communion races with Yale. She is doubtless tired 
of getting annually thrashed by " one-/ioss colleges." 

Keep me posted on all home news. 
Truly yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 



LETTER XII. 

MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. 

Tokio, May 18, 1876. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

I HAVE been much interested in the missionary 
question lately. Many of my most intimate ac- 
quaintances being missionaries, I have been fa- 
vored with an excellent opportunity for obtaining 
a close insight of all their labors. Knowing that 
you feel interested in everything pertaining to the 
present condition of Japan, I will now give you the 
results of my observations respecting this highly 
prominent factor in its civilization. 

The evangelizing of this country may be said to 
have been begun by the Jesuits three hundred 
years ago. But properly speaking, the mission 
work in Japan has sprung up within twenty years. 
Nay, accurately speaking, earnest, thoroughly or- 
ganized, and efficient work has hardly been in 
operation more than six years. And its growth 
during this period has been really wonderful, when 
we consider what it has had to contend with. 

The first Protestant missionaries came to Japan 
about eighteen years ago. For the first ten years 
their force was very small, and was limited to 



MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. 1 97 

Yokohama and Nagasaki. The early comers, as a 
matter of course, had to spend most of their time 
in making dictionaries, translating catechisms and 
doctrinal literature, and in trying to get a clear 
comprehension of the new language — a language 
that is difficult to master even under the most 
favorable circumstances. The times were also very 
unfavorable for their operations, as the natives 
were yet bitter in their hate toward Roman 
Catholicism. 

In 1867, however, this feeble force began to in- 
crease, and the natives, beginning to discriminate 
between Romanists and Protestants, became more 
disposed to listen. In 1870, the Imperial Revolu- 
tion being ended, the work became firmly rooted, 
and spread rapidly. New missions were estab- 
lished at Kobe and Osaca, and those at Yokohama 
and Nagasaki were reinforced. But it was reserved 
for the year 1873 to witness the grand influx of all 
denominations, for the Presbyterians and Dutch 
Reformed were the pioneers. 

This year forms an epoch in the mission history 
of Japan. New stations were established at Hako- 
date, in Yesso, in Niigata on the west coast, and in 
Tokio, just then thrown open to foreigners. And 
recently missionaries have been employed to teach 
English in the interior, with the understanding that 
they may teach Christianity outside of school 
hours to all those disposed to listen. So that all of 
the empire may be said to be embraced within the 
scope of mission work. 



I98 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Of course the force in each place is very limited. 
Hakodate has but two families; Niigata, two; 
Hirosaki, one ; Nagasaki, three'; Kobe, five or six; 
Kioto, three ; Osaca, four ; and Tokio and Yoko- 
hama form the great centers, as a matter of course. 
In each station the families are located in comfort- 
able but not expensive houses, built upon Eu- 
ropean plans ; and in each, the general plan of 
carrying on the work by preaching and teaching 
is the same. 

Beginning with Tokio, we find here about fifteen 
families, besides an almost equal number of single 
workers of both sexes. In this number I have not 
included the Roman Catholics; I would guess their 
force at about ten. They are indefatigable work- 
ers, but I do not think they will ever be very 
popular, because of their previous history. Nor 
have I included the small body of Greek priests 
connected with the Russian Legation. 

Almost every Protestant sect is here represented. 
We find Methodists, Canadian Wesleyans, Ameri- 
can and Scotch Presbyterians, Congregationalists, 
Baptists, and American and English Episcopalians, 
all working harmoniously and independently. It 
has been calculated that two thousand people hear 
the Gospel every Sunday in Tokio. Places for 
Christian worship are scattered all over the city. 
There are three chapels in the foreign concession, 
and an elaborate Greek church on Suruga Dai. Here 
there is preaching on Sunday. Then three or four 
times during the week services are held in rooms 



MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. 1 99 

rented in various parts of the city, when the Script- 
ures are freely discussed and distributed, and the 
superiority of Christ's teachings held forth. It 
is the policy of the missionaries to avoid ridicul- 
ing or abusing the pagan forms of worship as much 
as possible. In addition to this, many young 
Japanese go to the missionaries to learn English, 
and, of course, receive much Scriptural instruction 
with it. There is also a fine mission hospital, under 
the able and energetic management of Dr. Faulds 
of Scotland, and the ladies have erected two 
large and well conducted female academies for 
educating Japanese girls. In addition to all this, 
the zealous missionaries take turns in preaching to 
the English-speaking residents every Sunday morn- 
ing, and it is to be hoped that this will form a per- 
manent feature of their work here ; for an able ex- 
position of the truth certainly benefits the com- 
munity by creating a healthy moral tone on topics 
common in pagan countries. 

Nor is the work confined to Tokio. The mem- 
bers of the various missions travel off into the 
suburbs, into the distant villages, and even beyond 
the mountains, preaching and giving instruction in 
hotels, in private houses whose masters have invited 
in their friends to hear the mysteries of the foreign 
religion, and to the folks at the wayside inns. 

In Yokohama the work is yet more extensive. 
There are at least twenty families, with fully an 
equal number of co-operative single workers. In 
addition to abundant teaching and preaching, much 



200 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

good is accomplished by a well organized medical 
dispensary. There are also a number of seminaries 
and foundling asylums. In no part of Japan is 
there such an abundant distribution of religious 
literature. In various ways, at least three thou- 
sand people must hear the truth every week. 
Places for preaching and instruction are rented in 
many of the villages surrounding Yokohama, and 
there are places in the country where weekly or 
monthly visits are paid. And occasionally a Japan- 
ese from the far interior will request a missionary to 
accompany him to his native village among the 
mountains to expound the Scriptures to his friends, 
who are too poor to come to Yokohama. Much 
good seed is thus cast. When the missionary reaches 
the village, he puts up at a hotel. He then informs 
the landlord that he wishes to preach in his lower 
room. Permission is generally easily obtained. The 
shojees are then removed, thus throwing all the rooms 
into one. The talking then begins in a conversational 
way, and the crowd begins to gather until the 
streets and yard are packed with listeners. The 
exhorter then steps out on the veranda and preaches 
to a respectful gathering for a couple of hours at a 
time. The people are champion listeners. They 
wear an ordinary man out. They are insatiate. 
They come three or four times a day urging a con- 
tinuance of the speech. I knew one missionary 
who began at four o'clock in the afternoon, and 
when he was exhausted his native helpers carried 
on the exhortation until nine o'clock at night. Of 



MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. 201 

course sermonizing is not resorted to. Simply the 
barest recital of the life, the work, and the agony 
of our Redeemer seems to chain their attention. 
The people then disperse. Very few of them, per- 
haps, will be baptized. But curiosity has been 
awakened to know about this extraordinary relig- 
ion ; books are bought ; and when the missionary 
makes his next visit, he will find a number of 
earnest inquirers after the truth. The good that 
will result from this kind of circuit work is incalcul- 
able. 

Nor are the missionaries in Yokohama negligent 
of their own countrymen. Through their influence, 
a temperance hall and reading-room have been es- 
tablished. They preach on Sunday in English at 
the church in the Settlement, and they are inter- 
ested in other good works. In the other Treaty 
Ports the missionary operations are of a similar 
character, but are on a more limited scale, owing 
to the smallness of the forces. Each Treaty Port 
has become a center from which radiates Christian 
influence. 

Of course the direct fruit of this labor is com- 
paratively small. The actual number of converts 
to the Protestant faith is but one thousand ; but 
the number of inquirers and listeners much exceeds 
this. And the good that has been done and will 
yet be done by these devoted men and women will 
never appear in figures, — nor can it. 

I can assure you that the lot of the missionary 
in Japan is by no means an enviable one. In the 



202 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

first place, while the native is an incomparable lis- 
tener, yet he is possessed of such an amount of good- 
natured indifference on religious subjects that it is 
very difficult to get him thoroughly in earnest. 
The people are usually fickle and capricious. The 
samurai laugh at Buddhism and its gross supersti- 
tions. They readily admit that Bible morality is 
perfect and far superior to their own teachings. 
But they do not like to put it into practice because 
it interferes with sensual pleasures. They, like 
many of our own people, do not object to contem- 
plating Christianity from a purely theoretical stand- 
point, but they cannot endure a practical illustra- 
tion thereof. They handle religious topics with an 
easy-going, slip-shod spirit, quite inconsistent with 
the ideas of thorough-going Westerners. Intense 
and sincere earnestness on spiritual matters is cer- 
tainly not one of their characteristics. Although 
frequently childishly superstitious, yet they pos- 
sess a strong natural tendency toward atheism. 
Charmed with the novelty of the new religion, 
affected with the unselfish life and the tragical 
death of our Redeemer, cordially admitting the 
matchless purity of his precepts, yet they are indis- 
posed to adopt what appears to them to be a severe 
and rigorous code of morality. The theoretical 
" ought " pleases their fancy, but the practical 
" must" lengthens the visage and elicits the request 
to be excused. They do not like to commit them- 
selves to a regular and strict course of definite ac- 
tion on such subjects. 



MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. 203 

Their love of novelty is another serious obstacle 
to thorough and effective missionary work. They 
delight to remodel and tamper with whatever falls 
into their hands. This develops itself into a re- 
markable fondness for modifying religious creeds 
to suit their own views. As they have modified 
Buddhism, as they have rendered their own lan- 
guage and literature an inextricable muddle by re- 
peated innovations, so would they tamper with the 
Bible and its doctrines. It is really bewildering to 
consider the number of amendments that the native 
intellect could suggest to the Ten Commandments. 
In the first place, it would ease up somewhat the 
strictures on carnal pleasures. In the second place, 
while freely admitting the general principle that 
truth is a jewel, it would modestly intimate that 
an awkward statement of facts should always be 
avoided; and that the capacity to "take in" a 
brother man, instead of arguing moral degenera- 
tion, rather denoted mental acumen of a high phil- 
osophic order. In the third place, the Sabbath 
should be a jolly good holiday. Then they would 
indorse, without amendment, the commandments 
respecting idolatry, profanity, theft, homicide, and 
filial respect. The tenth commandment would be 
considered as a moral curiosity, theoretically prac- 
ticable, but entirely too high-flown for human nat- 
ure. The eleventh commandment, whereon hang 
the law and the prophets, would be left to individual 
discretion ; coupled, however, with the suggestion 
that should a neighbor chance to be too intense for 



204 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

the locality, the combined community should adopt 
measures for rendering the premises too hot for his 
comfortable sojourn thereon. Thus would there 
be a happy amalgamation of Buddhism, Shinto'ism, 
Confucianism, and Christianity, — an amalgamation, 
in fact, tnat would suit the pagans of all lands, — 
civilized or otherwise. 

But it is not from the natives that the mission- 
aries have to meet their greatest discouragements. 
It may seem strange to you, but all the persecution 
they are ever called on to endure comes from the 
foreign community. They are hounded by the 
press and by social scandal to an extent absolutely 
libjlous. They are the conventional target for in- 
sulting editorial wit and comment. Should one of 
their number chance to be indiscreet, this is the 
signal for a cowardly attack upon the entire body 
of this most refined and respectable portion of our 
community. 

I know of no subject connected with our social 
cosmos which the people here seem to feel them- 
selves more competent to discuss. Now, if a per- 
son not familiar with law or seamanship were to 
attempt to instruct us upon those subjects, he 
might find himself the subject of considerable 
pointed advice from legal gentlemen and weather- 
beaten skippers. But lawyers, merchants, captains, 
editors, under-strappers in the Hongs, — men who 
have never read a missionary journal, or have never 
had ten minutes' conversation with a missionary, 
and who know absolutely nothing about their 



MISSIONAR Y WORK IN JAPAN. 205 

operations, — discuss this missionary question with 
great warmth and with the most profound and 
complacent stupidity. They seem to assume that, 
because a man has lived in Japan, he knows all 
about missionaries ! Because a man runs a tea firm 
on Water Street, and has never attended a native 
service, he is, therefore, competent to pronounce 
evangelization a failure ! Because a seaman drops 
into port about four times a year, has never seen a 
native chapel, and confines his investigations en- 
tirely to Kanagawa, he is able to pour into the ears 
of passengers stories about missionary shiftlessness 
and idleness ! 

The cause of all this hostility is easy to see. The 
presence of missionaries is a continued rebuke to 
the greater portion of the foreign community, who 
are leading lives they would not think of leading 
at home. The natives are soon taught that these 
foreigners are living beneath their duties and privi- 
leges. They soon learn to point this fact with cut- 
ting and contemptuous observations, which gall the 
recipients thereof exceedingly. They naturally say 
that the missionaries must be of a higher caste. 
And they soon begin to draw a line between the 
two portions of the community; one portion is 
bent on gain, it is selfish and grasping, it abuses its 
servants, deals harshly with the natives, and is 
licentious ; the other portion acts justly toward all, 
so that servants are anxious to secure them as mas- 
ters, and the merchants are always on the qui vive 
to open accounts with them. They learn the Ian- 



206 LETTERS FROM JAPAN, 

guage accurately and elegantly, and instruct the 
people carefully and thoroughly, and the people 
soon begin to love and respect them. 

It seems to be a universal feature of human nat- 
ure that conscious inferiority excites envy and 
hate. This is manifested prominently here. This 
bitter spirit, however, is slowly disappearing; at 
least it does not strive to make itself so conspicuous 
as it did four years ago. You must not infer that 
the missionaries have no friends at all in the foreign 
community, for there are a few who do sympathize 
with them, and fully appreciate the difficulties 
under which they labor. 

Then, again, our missionary friends frequently find 
themselves annoyed by their well-wishers — people 
who have abundance of advice to offer respecting 
the carrying on of the work. Some people have 
such absurd notions on this subject both here and 
at home ! One advises all missionaries to live in 
native style. One wants them to farm in civilized 
style, and thus impress the people with the su- 
periority of our machinery. Some of them are 
surprised if one happens to return, after an absence 
of several years, with his complexion still fair, his 
manners still civilized, his tongue still able to articu- 
late the words of his native language, and his hair 
still disposed to part on one side and not possessed 
with an irresistible inclination to wriggle down over 
his shoulders in a pig-tail. And should one return 
after an absence of twenty-five years and exhibit no 
outlandish manners, still prefer a roof and bed to a 



MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. 20"J 

tent and mat, exhibit no ravenous appetite for 
rats, be able to tie his cravat and to put his shirt 
on beneath his vest, and still be able to preach 
without mixing in heathenish quotations from 
Confucius, there will be found those who will be 
smitten with incredulity, and will express serious 
doubts as to the ultimate evangelization of the 
heathens. A friend of mine told me the following 
story, which is certainly characteristic : A returned 
missionary was invited to dine with one of the 
" pillars " of the Church. While said " pillar " was 
pompously carving a leg of mutton, he patroniz- 
ingly condescended to ask a few questions about 
apostolic diet in pagan lands. " I presume, sir, 
that in the distant realms of barbarism and med- 
iaeval obscurity from which you have so lately 
emerged, that the article of food now before us is 
unheard of?" " By no means," was the reply. 
" We occasionally have a joint of it for variety." 
The " pillar " dropped his knife and fork and sat 
back aghast. " What ! A missionary eating mut- 
ton ! And we only affording it twice a week ! 
Great heavens ! I'll never give another cent to the 
cause as long as I live ! " 

Numberless are the objections raised against the 
evangelization of the heathens. In the first place 
we are met by the hackneyed question, " Why 
don't you keep your clergy at home to labor among 
their own degraded countrymen, and not be send- 
ing them off to waste their labors in foreign lands?" 
For two very substantial reasons, my friends. You 



208 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

already have enough churches and preachers at 
home to dispense the truth to every man, woman 
and child disposed to listen ; and if you were to 
double the force at home, I seriously doubt wheth- 
er the results would be proportionately greater. 
Those who will not be reached now, will not be 
reached if a delegation of a dozen clergymen were 
to wait upon each individual of them. Therefore, 
let this portion of our civilized countrymen, who 
are too philosophical to be affected by a " Jewish 
myth," not act out the principle of the dog in the 
manger by keeping the truth from the Gentiles 
while ignoring it themselves. 

In the second place, the nationalizing and local- 
izing of Christianity is directly opposed to the 
genius of the Gospels. This course would be 
human and selfish. Christianity is divine, and is 
intended to conquer our selfishness. All the woes 
of humanity, with but few exceptions, spring from 
selfishness. Eliminate selfishness from our nature 
and you will eliminate sorrow and misery to a large 
extent from the list of human woes. The eleventh 
commandment is a direct and deadly thrust at 
human selfishness. The Jews rejected this com- 
mandment with Christ. And may we not truly say 
that selfishness is to-day a strong Jewish character- 
istic ? Against this peculiarity of our nature, 
Christ was inexorable and uncompromising. His 
command was " Go ye forth into all the world," 
not " Remain forever at Jerusalem wasting breath 
and exertions upon a perverse and stiff-necked 



MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. 2O9 

generation." And in parable he clearly intimates 
that many must be called because so few are will- 
ing to be chosen. Therefore, my friends, you who 
now wish to keep Christianity at home are acting 
out the same selfish principle that has been the 
curse and main impediment to human progress in 
all ages. No community or people can consistently 
act out the teachings of Christ without making 
efforts to give to others the rays of the same light. 
When a community ceases to be evangelical, it ceases 
to be truly Christian. 

Again, it is urged that the expense of the work 
is great. Of course it is. Do you expect it to cost 
little or nothing? Where, then, would the oppor- 
tunity for you to show a self-sacrificing spirit come 
in ? I have generally found that those who are 
loudest in raising this objection are those who con- 
tribute little or nothing to the cause of evangeliza- 
tion. Would it not be more dignified for such to 
proportion their advice to their liberality? It is a 
fact that the bulk of missionary contributions come 
not from the rich and the noble, but from those in 
moderate circumstances, and from the poor. If 
evangelization had to wait until millionaires were 
ready to furnish the funds, it would, in common 
parlance, have to hang its harp up under the wil- 
lows (a position in which not a few would like to 
see it). 

Again, it is loudly urged, the native Christians 
sometimes back-slide. But back-sliding is by no 
means common. And if it were, this phase of relig- 
14 



2 IO LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

ious experience is not unknown in our own lands 
of glorious civilization and enlightenment. It is 
more becoming not to advance this objection. 

Again, it is urged, the native Christians are not 
really and truly converted ; they are insincere ; they 
will not stand fast should persecution arise. Facts 
prove the contrary. Let the cliff of Pappenberg, 
and the crucifixions and tortures of Shimambara 
testify. It is safe to say that they will stand per- 
secution as well as some of our fat deacons that 
take such Pharisaical satisfaction in classifying 
themselves among the perfections of the nineteenth 
century. 

Again, it is urged that with such an outlay of 
money and labor, evangelization should proceed 
more rapidly. No doubt there are many who think 
that more tangible results should appear. Let us 
consider some of the difficulties. Are we not too 
sanguine when we expect thirty millions of people 
to be acted upon in so short a space of time ? Are 
not we, who so rigidly proportion results to time 
and money, apt to be a little conceited about the 
progress of Christianity in our own country ? Let 
us examine a little. Let us begin with Great Brit- 
ain. There, for thirteen centuries, you have had 
thousands of ministers at work. And, at the pres- 
ent moment, the force at work in the shires and 
cities of the United Kingdom can be numbered by 
the thousands. And what are the results ? Is 
Great Britain completely evangelized ? Is she 
what she ought to be, after all her centuries of 



MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. 211 

Christian teaching and advantages ? By no means. 
Nowhere in Japan will you find viciousness of so 
vile a character as you will find in the iniquitous 
dens of London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and a few 
other civilized foci. 

These same remarks are applicable to America, 
and to France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. Do not, 
then, expect so great results from the small force 
in the field. Consider, also, that they have to con- 
tend with a difficult language. This language is 
not well adapted to express the profound and 
varied ideas of Christian theology. Terms and 
forms of expression have to be almost invented in 
order to present many of the ideas of the Revealed 
Religion. The natives have to be taught the mean- 
ing of the innovated phrases. All this, of course, 
much cripples the effect of eloquence and dialectic 
discourse. And, in addition to all this, the dis- 
solute behavior of the foreign community terribly 
injures the cause of Christianity. It is hard to 
answer the frequently propounded question : " If 
your religion is so very superior, why do such foul 
wretches come from your country ? " And the ex- 
planation that they are not Christians, but sinners, 
wantonly living below their duties and destined to 
much severer punishment for so doing, is but half 
understood by a people accustomed from earliest 
time to nationalize religion, and who have no ideas 
of a spiritual kingdom and of an invisible, yet real, 
communion of the redeemed with Christ. 

Finally, it is urged with great gusto that native 



212 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Christians do not bear favorable comparison with 
our Christians at home. It is triumphantly asserted 
that they retain many of their heathenish propen- 
sities after baptism ; that to eradicate these quali- 
ties, if not an impossibility, will be the work at 
least of several generations ; that they do not pos- 
sess the high-bred Christian sentiment of Saxons; 
that a strong alloy of inherent superstition runs 
through all their nature ; that their moral percep- 
tions are positively obtuse when viewed from our 
stand-point ; that a well-balanced, sensitive con- 
science is a rare thing among them ; and that even 
after years of labor but few can be considered as 
examples worthy of imitation. Now just permit 
us to inform you that your comparison is sophis- 
tical and unfair. Is it legitimate to draw a com- 
parison between the first converts of a heathen 
country and our carefully educated Christians who 
have had every moral advantage from infancy, who 
have been reared in the midst of every circum- 
stance tending to promote elevation of character, 
who have derived every possible benefit from cent- 
uries of accumulated instruction, who do not have 
to face the fierce prejudice and bitter persecution 
of friends and neighbors, and who are assisted in- 
tellectually and morally by many generations of 
inherited tendencies ? Certainly not. You should 
compare them with the first converts of the Saxon 
and Celtic races. We must bear in mind that the 
early inhabitants of fair Albion did not become 
paragons of excellence as soon as they were bap- 



MISSION AR Y WORK IN JAPAN. 2 1 3 

tized by Saint Augustine. They retained for many 
centuries their barbarous and cruel customs. 

Nor can we speak in more flattering terms of 
sweet Ireland. For even at this day, after centu- 
ries of cultivation, but little of the fruit of Saint 
Patrick can be characterized as sans pareil. And 
coming down to later times, we must remember 
that his most gracious Majesty, Defender of the 
Faith, &c, King Henry VIII., would bear very un- 
favorable comparison with modern Christians. Nor 
would it be fair to cite as a specimen of modern 
Christianity that bellicose queen who was accus- 
tomed to slap her courtiers in the face, to lie and 
dissimulate without stint, to swear at her noble 
lords " by God's blood," and to publicly interrupt 
sermons by telling clergymen to " quit their un- 
godly digressions." Nay, more, it would not be 
very gratifying to national pride to sit in inquisi- 
torial committee on the moral tone of the entire 
Elizabethan age. And, bringing the question right 
home, could we candidly advise Japanese youth of 
to-day to pattern their actions after the naughty 
example of the future Defender of the Faith ? Ah ! 
My conceited scions of the Imperial race, are you 
all you might be and ought to be after thirteen 
centuries of Christian teaching? Be careful, then, 
how you criticise the product of only seventeen 
years of labor. Look to yourselves when you dog- 
matically clamor that a country which, for twenty- 
five centuries, has had only the dim light of natural 
religion to guide it, should bring forth characters 



214 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

fully competent to comprehend and practice the 
precepts of our revealed religion as our most noble 
Christians do. 

But, incredible as it may seem, the most power- 
ful auxiliary of the missionaries is the Japanese 
Government. You may rest assured that the 
government never dreamed of rendering any as- 
sistance to the Christian faith when they began to 
introduce civilization. But they are now begin- 
ning to realize the fact that the foreign civilization 
that they have been so carefully importing during 
the past six years is the product of Christian prin- 
ciples, and that by introducing our civilization they 
are introducing Christianity itself. This fact aston- 
ishes them immeasurably, and it is a fact that we 
ourselves do but dimly realize ; yet such is the 
case. 

A prominent counsellor, imported from England 
by the government, said that all Japan needed was 
civilization and beefsteak. The gentleman furnish- 
ing this advice was an infidel, and evidently did not 
realize the fact that whatever was good in the 
civilization of Europe and America was based upon 
Christian principles. The religion and the civiliza- 
tion of a country go hand in hand. Show me the 
Druidical mysteries, the fetiches of the African 
savages, and I will show you a degraded civiliza- 
tion. Show me the nonentities of Shintoism and 
of Buddhism, and I will show a civilization charac- 
terized by social and intellectual stagnation, and by 
spiritual and political degradation. Show me the 



MISSIONAR Y WORK IN JAPAN. 2 I 5 

sensuous creed of the Turks, and I will show you 
the vilest civilization of to-day. Show me the 
comic mythology of the Greeks and Romans, based 
upon the vagaries of childish imaginations, and I 
will show you a civilization possessing many excel- 
lent qualities, but uninfluenced by any deep moral 
undercurrents, and characterized by selfishness and 
cruelty. In short, give me the general features of 
any religion, and I can show you, with reasonable 
certainty, the nature of the civilization prevailing 
among its votaries. These terms denote correla- 
tive conditions of society. Religion is the cause, 
civilization is the effect. 

And the Japanese, who have been so assiduously 
introducing our civilization, are now startled with 
the discovery that they have been but pioneers for 
Christian missionaries. They now see that the in- 
tellectual qualities, the animal passions, and the 
selfish desires of nations under Christian influence, 
are controlled and curbed by some moral power 
that they had not noticed. And they also see that, 
but for the checking force of these moral princi- 
ples, the tremendous faculties of Europe and 
America would be dangerous to the world. While 
they have assiduously cultivated the intellectual 
powers of their youth, are intensifying their appe- 
tites and passions by nourishing and stimulating 
food, yet they have put no guide on the road, have 
put no brake on the wheels, have introduced no 
moral power to restrain the undue exercise of these 
mental and physical powers. They find Shintoism 



2 1 6 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

and Buddhism quite powerless to do so. Nor can 
the copious and bitter draughts of infidelity, al- 
ready freely imbibed, accomplish this end. Nothing 
under the sun but the Gospel of Christ can do it. 

This fact was most whimsically acknowledged by 
the Japanese when the Mitsui Bank was started in 
Tokio. This is a national bank, and is backed up 
with the money of the government. Young Japan- 
ese had been specially educated abroad to carry on 
the banking system on approved foreign principles. 
They were intelligent, capable, and shrewd. They 
made excellent cashiers, tellers, book-keepers, and 
clerks, so far as the merely executive qualities were 
concerned. They possessed every intellectual re- 
quirement necessary for carrying on a bank. But 
they were too intelligent ! They were so thor- 
oughly acquainted with financing that they under- 
stood many little methods of deflecting cash from 
the treasury into their own pockets. And there 
was no power except fear that could prevent their 
doing so ; and fear had but little effect, as there 
was hardly any danger that the capitalists, com- 
posed of effete Daimios and of government officers 
unfamiliar with banking, could detect how the cash 
disappeared. In this predicament, one of the bank 
officers, with great candor and solicitude, came and 
explained the situation to one of the missionaries. 
He frankly admitted that he did not believe in any 
religion whatsoever. He claimed that the Japanese 
intellect was of too philosophical a nature to accept 
the Jewish myth called Christianity. " But," said 



MISSION AR Y WORK IN JAPAN 2 I J 

he, " your religion does something that our religions 
cannot do. // makes men Jionest. Now, we wish 
our employes at the bank to be carefully instructed 
in these principles, so that they may learn to dis- 
charge their duties with scrupulous integrity." 

This story is thoroughly characteristic. Fre- 
quently have I met men in America who have can- 
didly admitted that, though not professing Chris- 
tians themselves, yet they would not care to live 
in communities where business was not influenced 
by Christian principles, and where they could not 
deal with Christian people. And if it were not for 
the factor of absolute integrity that lies at the 
foundation of the banking system of the nineteenth 
century, where would be our immense fabric of 
commercial exchange ? Were it not for the fact 
that Christian sentiment had made fidelity in com- 
mercial affairs to be of paramount importance, the 
international transactions of the present day would, 
indeed, be of a limited nature. 

At one time the government insisted that Chris- 
tianity should not be taught in their schools in any 
shape whatsoever. They even went so far as to 
insert in some of their contracts a clause to the 
effect that no instruction should be given upon this 
subject. Yet it is impossible to explain the senti- 
ment and the illustrations of our great writers with- 
out teaching much concerning Christianity. The 
vast bulk of our literature is so impregnated with 
Christian sentiment that it is absolutely impossible 
to eliminate or to avoid it while teaching this sub- 



2 1 8 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

ject. A great part of my teaching in the govern- 
ment schools of Japan has been pure missionary 
work. It was necessarily so. It would have been 
impossible for it to have been otherwise. 

But I must close this letter. I could write a 
volume tracing the growth of our literature, our 
social customs, and our political institutions from 
the principles of the Gospels. But time forbids. I 
can only state in brief my candid conclusions upon 
this subject, derived from several years of close ob- 
servation. I shall not attempt to argue the matter, 
to quote voluminous authorities, or to make a te- 
dious demonstration by clumsy logical methods. 
But, in the language of Greenleaf, I will close by 
saying that the truth of any hypothesis is estab- 
lished by its coincidence with existing phenomena. 
Yours truly, 

Theophilus Pratt. 




THE CITADEL OF OVVARI CASTLE. 

( Na tive Ph otograph . ) 



LETTER XIII. 

A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 

Kioto, Japan, August 3, 1877. 

Dear Julius Marcellus : 

I SHALL start to-morrow on a tour through the 
provinces that lie north, east, and south of Kioto. 
This is the classic part of Japan. Our route will 
be northward across Lake Biwa into Echizen ; then, 
turning to the south, we will pass through Mino, 
Owari, Ise, and Kii ; and then we will cut over the 
mountains in a north-westerly direction into Yama- 
shiro. My traveling companion will be Mr. Yana- 
gashima, one of my scholars. He is well versed in 
Japanese history, and is very intelligent. I intend 
to carry no provisions along. I want to try the 
experiment of living for a month on Japanese diet, 
and see how it works. Good night. 

Aug. 4. — Left Kioto this evening at seven 
o'clock, and arrived at Oatsu, on the southern end 
of Lake Biwa, at ten o'clock. Distance seven miles 
and a half. Scenery very mountainous. We were 
stopped three times by the vigilant police. The 
war makes them active. Even natives have to 
carry passports. Put up at a hotel. Hotel-keepers 
charge for best accommodations about sixteen cents 



220 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

per day ; for inferior, they charge about twelve 
cents per day. Oatsu is a town containing about 
thirty thousand inhabitants. 

Aug. 5. — Took one of the little steamers that 
ply across the lake. The trip to the other end of 
Lake Biwa is very fine. This is the largest body 
of fresh water in Japan. Many of the historic 
events in native history were enacted on its shores. 
Many of the legends and myths that are most 
popular cluster around it. On the right is a hill 
around which a gigantic centipede is said in ancient 
times to have entwined itself seven times, and then 
buried its head beneath the waters under the 
bridge that spanned the river. On the left rises a 
lofty range of mountains, where lived the famous 
priest, Benke, in his monastery. He was noted, the 
tradition says, for his vast power. On one occasion 
he stole a large bell and carried it off up the moun- 
tains. But the unhappy bell kept saying: " Carry 
me back! Carry me back, Benke!" Night and 
day it ceaselessly cried out, so that the people all 
heard it. It gave him no peace until he complied 
with its request. His other exploits would fill a 
volume. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon we reached 
Shiotsu, at the extreme northern end of the lake. 
Take dinner a la Japonnaise. At half-past five we 
started for Hikita, some seven miles northward. 
The first four miles lead through a series of rice 
plateaus, picturesquely flanked by lofty hills. This 
was evidently the ancient head of the lake, as the 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 221 

pebbly nature of the ground fully attests. At the 
end of the four miles we came to the boundary post 
between Omi and Echizen. The scenery now be- 
came grand. We descended into Echizen through 
a rugged pass. Put up at a hotel. 

The productions of the province of Omi are 
bleached linen, tea, crape, moxa, edges for tatamis, 
porcelain, pepper, velvet, silk, fish called gengoro- 
funa, eels, and carp. The productions of the prov- 
ince of Echizen are silver, lead, copper, coal, sul- 
phur, paper called hosho (the best paper in Japan, 
and used in ceremonial documents), mosquito nets, 
silk, trout, salmon, codfish, mulberry trees, hemp, 
tea, and lacquer. The word Omi means " near the 
river." The word Echizen means " over the pass." 
Aug, 6. — Called for our bill. Here it is : 
i. For night's lodging, supper and breakfast for 
two, 30 cents. 

2. For sugar, 2 cents. 

3. For peaches, 8 cents. 
Total, 40 cents. 

Took jinrikshas at half-past six. Rode for five 
miles through a lovely country to Tsuruga, on the 
Japan Sea. The harbor is shut in by lofty moun- 
tains. The place is enchanting. This is the port 
that will probably be the next to be thrown open 
to foreign commerce. 

Aug. 7. — Hired a boat to visit Jogo, a place 
some six miles up the western side of the bay. 
The boatman says that on one side of the bay the 
people gain their living by hunting and farming; 



222 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

on the other side they live by fishing. He also 
says that the long pine beach at the extreme lower 
part of the bay was made in one night. 

The temple of Jogo is beautifully located at the 
base of a mountain. Within a mile of it the peo- 
ple are forbidden to catch fish. Jogo is the popular 
name for the Empress J ingo, who went from this port 
on a raid into Corea many centuries ago. Her other 
half has a temple in his honor about half a mile off. 
Popular tradition says that he makes a visit to 
Jingo about once a year. Beside Jingo's temple a 
pretty cascade casts itself into a shaded pool. If 
you bathe in this water you will be free from sick- 
ness for a year — provided you have handed over to 
the priest that attends the shrine the full allowance 
of money. Here we found an old woman and a 
maiden under the water endeavoring to obtain the 
desired blessing. 

We then, on our way back, visited the ubiqui- 
tous shrine of Benten, picturesquely located on a 
little promontory. 

Then we pass a stone slab rising out of the 
water; upon it is an image of Jiso, the Buddhist 
priest. Those who are unable to swim are called 
stone Jisos. Through its breast is a small hole. 
The story goes that during a great battle fought 
five hundred years ago between Nitta and Ashi- 
kaga, a stray shot pierced it. The clumsy match- 
locks of the thirteenth century could never have 
done such execution at a distance of three miles. 
The yarn is charming, nevertheless. 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 223 

Aug. 8. — Have been out on a tramp through 
the town of Tsuruga. We first visited the site of 
the ancient castle of Nitta. It was built on a steep 
cliff outside of the town. The position is very 
strong, but Ashikaga led his legions right up the 
face of the hill and stormed the place. No trace of 
the castle is left, but the peasants in the immediate 
vicinity say, that in digging about the underbrush 
on the steep hillside, they sometimes unearth 
charred rice, which must be the debris of the burnt 
store-houses of the ancient castle. This was the 
last battle between Nitta and Ashikaga. Near this 
spot is the grave of Takayoshi Shinno, a great 
friend and defender of the ancient Mikados. His 
melancholy fate excites pity in the breast of every 
true samurai. He fought against the Imperial 
enemies in Kaga, Mino, Echigo, and Echizen. He 
died prematurely, and was buried here. For cent- 
uries his sepulcher was unknown, but after the 
Imperial restoration the spot was discovered and 
marked. Some ancient families in the vicinity 
treasured up the fact and imparted it to the govern- 
ment. Climbing up the path and pushing aside 
the underbrush, you see merely an insignificant 
bamboo fence. Upon a square wooden post is 
written the name of the hero, the date when the 
name was written, and a strict prohibition against 
entering the inclosure. 

In the afternoon we went to Matswara, beyond 
the other end of the town. Here is the place where 
some three hundred and seventy-five samurai were 



224 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

decapitated and buried about twenty years ago. 
These gentlemen were led by the Prince of Iga, 
whose head also fell on this bloody occasion. They 
were bitterly opposed to the introduction of for- 
eigners, but the Bakufu did not sustain their views. 
Then Takada, the prince, went roving with them 
through the provinces trying to stir up revolution 
against the Shogun. They came over the moun- 
tains into Echizen. But here they were stopped 
by the Kaga samurai. They delivered up their 
swords and bodies to the Kaga gentlemen and 
awaited the decision of the Shogun. The answer 
was decapitation to a man. The spot is marked 
with stone monuments. 

Aug. 9. — At 10 P.M. we took the steamer that 
goes fifty-five miles up the coast to Mikune, the 
sea-port of the capital of this province. 

Aug. 10. — Reached Mikune this morning. The 
population is about fifteen thousand. Took jinrik- 
slia for Fukui, twelve miles to the east. Arrived 
at 11 A.M. Fukui is built in the center of an ex- 
tensive stretch of rice-growing country. At half- 
past eleven we took jinriksJia for Togu, six miles 
and a half to the east. The road led through rice 
and hemp fields. From Togu we walked five miles 
to Okubo. The road led through a pretty moun- 
tainous country. Hotel passable. People kind and 
attentive. Only one foreigner has ever been in the 
place. 

Aug. 11. — Left Okubo and walked twelve miles 
to Ono. Our road led through a long stretch of 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 22$ 

lovely mountain scenery. Hemp and trees produc- 
ing lacquer are extensively cultivated. Ono is 
situated in a gem of a valley. The lofty mountains 
abruptly rise on all sides. The city contains about 
forty-five thousand inhabitants. It is well built. 
Everybody seems to be reeling silk from thousands 
of cocoons. Takada, in his tramp, passed through 
here, but was not very warmly received. 

From Ono we continued our southerly course, 
climbing a mountain covered with verdure to its 
very summit. From the summit the view was su- 
perb. Behind us lay Ono, the variegated fields, 
the sandy streams, and the engroved villages scat- 
tered through the glens. While in front of us, 
down in the rugged depths of the mountains, lies a 
sublime valley. A torrent pours through it. On 
its further slope lies a thatched village. Surely 
nothing can surpass this in beauty ! Hunting and 
fishing are good. Only two foreigners have ever 
visited this section of country. 

The people are painfully polite. When you 
pass along the peasants remove their head-bands. 
Should they chance to be driving a large ox that 
compels you to step aside, they beg your pardon. 
The school-boys in the thatched temples, that have 
been turned into school-houses, come out and stand 
before the door. Their leader then gravely steps 
forth before his constituents and makes a low bow. 
This expresses the sentiments of the crowd. 

In this vicinity is an antiquated Shinto temple. 
The people about it are greatly troubled with 
15 



2 26 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

wolves. One of the voracious animals destroyed a 
man down in the hemp-fields last summer. Wild 
boars also do much mischief by rooting in the 
fields. Robbers also are a source of much annoy- 
ance. At this old temple is a caged wolf of huge 
dimensions, and both robbers and wild boars greatly 
dread the wolf. Therefore, the people pray to the 
wolf to be delivered from their enemies. They 
pray that three wolves may stand guard over the 
premises of each one of them. Although these 
sentinel wolves have never been seen, yet the peo- 
ple believe that invisible ones are actually guarding 
them and exert a mysterious influence over depre- 
dators. 

We spent the night at Nakashima, ten miles from 
Ono. Takada and his gang of ronins burnt this 
place in the most brutal and unprovoked manner 
during their raid. 

Aug. 12. — We left Nakashima and followed the 
road through fine mountain scenery. At ten o'clock 
we crossed from Echizen into Mino. We now have 
wild and rugged mountains. The country is un- 
cultivated and much resembles the Adirondack's. 
The lofty mountains are covered to their summits 
with groves of walnut, oak, chestnut, beech, and 
horse-chestnut. A thick underbrush fills in all 
spare ground. Wild boars and deer abound. 
Here is also found the kamosishi, a kind of ibex. 
Legions of monkeys run wild everywhere. They 
sometimes descend into the regions of rice-fields 
and make sad havoc with the crops. We made 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 22 7 

twenty-five miles to-day ; the last ten miles were 
indescribably grand ; the scenery was majestic ; the 
road went around the mountain side many hundred 
feet above the torrents ; sometimes it passed over 
dizzy chasms ; sometimes over scaffoldings built 
along the face of precipices ; sometimes over frail 
bridges ; and sometimes over planks that trembled 
as you crossed the chasms they spanned ; the 
mountains have been packed together in the closest 
possible order, and they are about as steep as it is 
possible for them to be without letting slide the 
immense mass of vegetation that covers them. In 
fact, in some places, the face of a hill has slipped 
away, carrying the thundering avalanche of trees 
and rocks into the torrents below. We passed two 
lovely cascades. One is three hundred feet high. 
In one place we had to creep along the face of a 
cliff where a wrong step would probably have 
plunged us down fifteen hundred feet. At one 
place the ravine is spanned by a swinging bridge. 
It is said the architects derived their idea of the 
plan by seeing hundreds of monkeys join hands 
and form a cable from side to side. Old Takada 
came over the greater part of this road on horse- 
back. He was eighty years old. He must have 
possessed considerable vigor, for the road is really 
a rough foot-path. At ten o'clock we reached 
Tenjin. While Yanagashima was taking his bath, 
the floor fell out of the room and precipitated him 
into the yard, to the unfeigned horror of the land- 
lady, who was profuse in explanations and apolo- 



2 28 LET TERS FROM JAPAN. 

gies. He, however, resumed his ablutions undis- 
mayed. Tired ? Rather. But he is developing 
into a first-rate walker. 

Aug. 13. — We made thirty-five miles to-day. 
In the morning we again passed through some 
magnificent scenery. The rocks indicate the pres- 
ence of iron and coal. The geology of the coun- 
try is very interesting. There has been much 
erosion and drift. In one place the water has worn 
for itself a deep channel through the rocks. By 
midday we struck the foot-hills, and were again in 
the region of pine trees. We passed extensive 
fields of taro, beans, millet, and rice. We found 
the people very inquisitive, but respectful. By 
three o'clock we reached Inozoka. From this point 
we took jinrikshas to Yorotaki, a pretty cascade 
about one hundred and twenty-five feet high. It 
is a famous resort for picnic parties. It is beauti- 
fully located in a glen filled with trees. The spark- 
ling spray combines beautifully with the sunlight 
and the shadows. 

Aug. 14. — From Yorotaki we went through a 
long stretch of level country to Gi-Fu, the capital 
of Mino. It is in a favorable location. Place is 
well built. The productions of the province of 
Mino are silver, copper, lead, wood for carving and 
engraving, melons, persimmons, tea, hemp, pepper, 
rice-beer, crape, cloth, porcelain, carp, trout. 

Aug. 15. — Spent in Nagoya, in Owari. This is 
one of the five great cities of Japan. Its castle 
is one of the finest. Upon its Tenshiu (citadel) 



, 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 2 2g 

were formely two immense fishes plated with pure 
gold. They adorned the gable ends, and for miles 
you could catch their glitter. We spent a day in 
inspecting the castle and Tenshiu. This Tenshiu 
rises some three hundred and fifty feet from the 
waters of the moat. It is five stories high. In 
the lowermost story you can place two thousand 
soldiers. The timbers used in its construction are 
most massive. From the summit your eye takes 
in the waters of Owari Bay, the rice-fields of Owari 
Province, and the distant mountains of Shinano 
and Mino. From this lofty place the movements 
of an enemy can be accurately inspected miles 
away. This Tenshiu was almost impregnable 
against feudal assaults, but against modern weap- 
ons it would be useless. It would present a splen- 
did target for artillery practice. 

The general features of this castle much resemble 
that of Hirosaki. It is, however, more extensive. 
It was one of the strongest outposts of the Toku- 
gawas. Being only three days journey from Kioto, 
it was most conveniently situated for watching 
Yamashiro and the central Daimiates. 

Nagoya is the great center of inland commerce. 
The productions of Owari Province, of which it is 
the capital, are crystals, agate, silk, cotton, earthen- 
ware, ironware, and fans. Porcelain, of course, 
forms a vast article of manufacture. The city is 
built on a little rising ground that gently slopes 
down to Owari Bay, a few miles off. 

Aug. 1 6 — To-day we left Nagoya and continued 



23O LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

our journey due southward into Ise, the long, narrow 
province that borders Owari Bay on the west. 
This is one of the oldest portions of Japan. Our 
road is level, and we travel by jinriksha entirely. 
Two-thirds of Ise is a rice-field. The mountains 
on the west separate it from Iga, the track of 
whose prince we have been tracing. We covered 
thirty-five miles to-day. Spent the night at Kambe. 
The productions of Ise are tea, oil, wax, cotton, 
dyed paper, crabs, clams, lacquerware, tobacco, 
garden seeds, hydrangeas, copper, coal, and porce- 
lain called bankoyaki. The productions of the ad- 
joining Province of Iga are coal, sulphur, sand for 
polishing, and earthenware called Iga-yaki. 

Aug. 17. — We covered thirty-five miles to-day. 
We spent the night at Yamada (mountain-field). 
In this vicinity are the shrines of Ise. They are 
ranked among the oldest temples in Japan. The 
place is about five miles from Futami, where the 
sun is said to have first risen between two rocks 
that rise from the sea. Around Ise cluster all the 
myths and legends of Shintoism, the primitive re- 
ligion of Japan. This religion was a pastoral re- 
ligion. The aboriginal hunters and tillers of the 
soil offered up the fruits of their toil to the un- 
known powers that controlled nature. The early 
temples were probably like wigwams, built of poles 
crossed at the top and covered with skins or thatch. 
Then more elaborate structures were built, but the 
original form was retained, and even to-day you 
find the roofs of all Shinto temples disfigured with 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 23 1 

the projecting rafters that cross each other like the 
original poles twenty-five hundred years ago. And 
the heavy beams that resemble cannons laid across 
the ridge pole probably represent the logs that 
weighted down the thatched roof of some primeval 
shrine. Into this religion has become welded the 
doctrine of the divinity of the Mikado. Pure 
Shintoism is not idolatry. It was the worship of 
the Invisible by a simple pastoral community. 
It had no code of morality, no literature ex- 
pounding doctrines relating to pure life, and no 
teachings that can compare with the teachings of 
other great religions. All its temples are built in a 
-style of severe simplicity. No idols are to be 
found in any of their temples. The only ornament 
is an enshrined steel mirror about a foot in diame- 
ter. Before this they bow and pray: "as the mir- 
ror reflects our faces, so may the Invisible reflect 
upon our minds our sins and duties." Shintoism is 
doubtless a vast improvement on some forms of 
idolatry to be met with in Asia. But its great 
weakness is, that while it recognizes the fact that 
men should be good, it utterly neglects to tell them 
how to be good. It fails to give a single command- 
ment or evolve a solitary principle of morality. It 
is utterly inefficient to raise men even so high as 
Buddhism has done. If you believe the Mikado to 
be of divine descent and obey him, you can not fail 
to be a good Stiintoist. It must always fail as a 
religion. The experience of four thousand years 
has shown that men need very minute and careful 



232 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

instructions in the very difficult carrying out of so 
very simple a thing as being good. 

The temples of Ise are prettily located in 
spacious grounds, but in themselves they are not 
remarkable for architectural beauty. The present 
buildings have stood about a century. 

A lengthy description of these shrines would 
take us much beyond the limits of our letter. For 
further information in regard to Shintoism, I refer 
you to the paper on the " Revival of Pure Shinto," 
by Mr. Satow, in the Asiatic Reports for 1874 or 
1875. 

Aug. 18. — We continued our southerly course. 
We intend to visit the province of Kii and the cas- 
cade of Natchi, near its southern part. This is the 
cascade that steamers coming along the coast can 
see at a great distance. This section of the country 
has never been explored by foreigners. 

After going ten miles we had to leave our 
jinrikshas and walk. The country was very pretty 
and hilly. Owing to the uncertainty of the dis- 
tance between the last two towns, I am unable to 
say how much I walked to-day. Each traveler we 
met gave a different figure of the distance. Very 
few people anyway will give the same answer to 
the query as to how great the distance is. But the 
elasticity of this afternoon's walk ranged all the 
scale between four and fifteen miles. 

Aug. 19. — Walked seventeen miles to Nagashima. 
Then we walked over the mountains to a deep in- 
let, and took a boat from Furusatto to Shirora. 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 233 

Distance, six miles. Then we walked a mile and a 
half over the hills and struck another inlet. Took 
boat again for Owashi. Distance, seven miles. 
Our entire journey to-day has been along the sea 
coast. On the right hand, the lofty mountains rise 
in indescribable grandeur. Panthers, deer, and wild 
boars abound in the valleys. The entire southern 
and eastern portions of this province are exceed- 
ingly mountainous. As the natives say, the moun- 
tains are literally placed side by side. In all eligible 
localities, the hamlets are nestled. This province 
produces crude camphor, tobacco, cotton, pepper, 
lime, candle-wax, umbrellas, round fans, little egg- 
shaped oranges, and lacquerware. The fishermen 
along the coast also bring in an occasional whale, 
which Yanagashima classes among the produc- 
tions. 

Aug. 20. — Left Owashi and walked seven miles 
over very steep mountains. Striking another inlet, 
we again took boat some five miles. These inlets 
are lovely. They are full of fish. Fishing-boats 
are scattered everywhere. Some are gliding in 
from the Pacific well freighted with spoil. Some 
are in the deep shadows of the headlands. When 
the fish will not bite, the anglers beat the water 
with a switch, so that the denizens of the deep may 
fancy it is raining. Should they then refuse to 
bite, they are well scolded. 

We then walked thirteen miles to Kinomoto. 
The walk was severe. The population of this 
place is four thousand. We hadn't been five 



234 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

minutes in the hotel before two policemen bounced 
in for our passports. 

What interested me most to-day was the univer- 
sal habit of smoking cigars. Even the women and 
children smoked. They take a camelia leaf and 
roll it into a cornucopia. This they fill with to- 
bacco, and go purring along as if they had tin fun- 
nels in their mouths. Bundles of camelia leaves 
are sold all along the roadside for two mills per 
bundle. I have never seen this anywhere else in 
Japan. 

The people here are hearty and healthy. Their 
noses are really Jewish in shape. In these moun- 
tains you will find the people as they have been for 
two thousand years. The place is out of the way. 
Foreign elements have never mixed in. Here you 
find the pure Japanese race. The fleets of Javanese 
junks that probably drifted up here on the Black 
Stream during the past centuries would find this 
promontory convenient for landing. When the pop- 
ulation increased, it could pass over the mountains 
into Owari, Ise, and Yamashiro, and mix with the 
Ainos. But it offered no inducement with its wild 
mountains for immigration in return. The people 
are certainly an improvement on the Japanese I 
have hitherto met. The corruptions of feudalism 
also had less scope here among the rugged cliffs. 
And so the people of these mountains are about 
the same as they have been for many centuries. 
The climate along the coast is very delightful at all 
seasons. 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 235 

Aug. 21. — Left Kinnemoto and went twelve miles 
by jinriksha along the sea shore. The road led 
through pine groves, across hills, and through 
much varied and beautiful scenery. Then took 
kago at Atawa and went fourteen miles to Hama- 
no-mia (shore temple). This place is within three 
miles of Natchi-no-taki. We spent the night at a 
Buddhist temple that has been turned into a hotel. 
Since the Revolution, this sect has become very 
much impoverished. Many of the monasteries 
have fallen into decay. We found two very valu- 
able relics at this place. One was a piece of cam- 
phor wood with an inscription upon it. The abbot 
said that it was thirteen hundred years old. We 
wanted to buy it, but he said money was no induce- 
ment to part with it. Another relic was a little bell 
heavily alloyed with gold. It produced a very sweet 
note. This was a thousand years old. It was well 
authenticated. It had been handed down for fifty 
generations from abbot to abbot. It was brought 
from China by the priest Ji-kaku Daishi. This 
relic he was induced to part with for a pecuniary 
consideration. 

Aug. 22. — Arrived at the falls of Natchi. It is 
about three miles back from the sea-coast. It is 
nearly five hundred feet high. Its source is a 
mountain stream that comes from the range of 
Natchi-san. The scenery surrounding it is very 
wild and exceedingly grand. Within a radius of a 
few miles are other cascades numbering, according 
to native estimates, forty-eight. None of them, 



236 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

however, are more than half the size of this one. 
At its base are many shrines and tea booths for the 
pilgrims that flock hither every summer. On one 
or two occasions boats from passing steamers have 
landed crews to examine the falls. The people 
living in the vicinity are very respectful, and take 
very little notice of strangers. There are no regu- 
lar hotels in the vicinity. The well-to-do people, 
living in the valley and on the steep mountain side, 
offer the hospitality of their roofs to visitors. 
When crowds are not pressing, they take turns in 
acting the host. We were referred well up the 
mountain side to a house situated on a bold crag 
overlooking the valley and the falls. So lovely was 
the place that we decided to stay here a couple of 
days and enjoy the scenery. 

Aug. 23. — Spent in examining the falls and in 
visiting some of the old temples. Our host showed 
us some letters that had been written by some 
princes in the time of Yoritomo, nearly eight hun- 
dred years ago. Yanagashima had some difficulty in 
reading them, as the characters differed somewhat 
from the modern characters. One letter was from 
a feudal lord to his treasurer, ordering him to pre- 
sent a suitable gift to a certain samurai of another 
clan who had respectfully descended from his horse 
when his lordship came down the road. Another 
letter spoke about the widening of the castle moat 
and the securing of workmen for the task. These 
letters would be very interesting to any one desir- 
ing to write up a history of old times. In this 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 237 

vicinity are many such ancient documents. This 
whole promontory would be a fine field for anti- 
quarians. 

Aug. 24. — I must take it easy! I begin to find 
that Japanese diet is not 'quite so invigorating 
as our own. My eyes begin to be weak. The 
original aversion that I had for rice has disap- 
peared. I actually relish it as the hostess dips it 
out of the steaming tub. Rice tastes better when 
eaten with chop-sticks. It should be eaten piping 
hot. If the Japanese were to use a little more 
variety in their cooking it would suit my taste 
more. Almost everything is boiled. They do not 
seem to know much about roasting and baking. 
Rice is used at every meal. The side dishes are 
varied. The landlady comes in regularly and takes 
our orders. Shall it be trout, or beans, or pickled 
radish ? Or perhaps some shrimps would be pre- 
ferred ? When one gets accustomed to these 
dishes, he finds some of them very nice. But a 
person with a delicate taste would be a long time 
in getting accustomed to them. Japanese diet is 
certainly weak when compared with our own. You 
do not store up a reserve force of vitality when liv- 
ing on it. You can do just about so much work 
every day, but when you attempt to do more than 
your regular amount you find it very wearing. A 
jinriksha man will do splendid work for a couple of 
days, but if you keep him at it he breaks down. 
Many of these men die from heart disease every 
year. 



238 LE TTERS FROM JAP A N. 

Aug. 25. — Walked over the mountains some 
twenty miles and reached Hongu. The country is 
exceedingly rugged. Our course is now north-east 
to Coyasan and Osaca. The oldest temples in 
Japan are here. They antedate the shrines of Ise. 
They are built upon an immense rectangular plat- 
form of granite about eight feet high. They are in 
a dilapidated condition. They are odd structures. 
Innumerable crows flit over the weather-beaten 
roofs, and fill the somber groves with their cease- 
less clamor. The legends say that in ancient times 
they were gifted with strange powers of speech. 

Aug. 26. — We left Hongu and climbed over the 
Endless Mountain for about ten miles. With the 
exception of Fujiyama, it is the hardest climbing I 
have done in Japan. The amount of water that 
you drink is surprising. There being no springs 
along the roadside, your coolie has to carry a large 
supply along. The mountain is about five thou- 
sand feet high. The view from the summit is ex- 
tremely grand. In all directions the mountains 
roll away in endless waves. A more rugged region 
can hardly be imagined. There are no large towns 
here, but there are great numbers of hamlets 
scattered all along the mountain roads. In one of 
the houses I found an old Tower musket with a 
bayonet. Inquiring whether robbers troubled the 
people, I was informed that wild boars gave great 
trouble in the potato patches, and had to be fought 
fiercely, as they loved potatoes and became savage 
on being interrupted in their meals. We traveled 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 239 

through this magnificent country for about twenty- 
miles. Stopped for the night at Yagura, perched 
far up the mountain side. 

Aug. 27. — Continued our journey twenty-eight 
miles along the tops of the high mountains. The 
scenery, to be appreciated, must be seen. A 
typhoon came upon us and soon made us as wet as 
you please. My rubber cloak came in handy. 
There was something so weird and grand in thus 
promenading nature aroused that I count this as 
the most enjoyable day of our excursion. Passed 
the night at Otake. 

Aug. 28. — Walked eight miles more and made 
Coya-san. Determined to stop here a couple of 
days. 

Coya monastery is at the summit of a mountain 
five thousand feet high. Deep groves of superb 
cryptomeiria that have been cultivated with the 
greatest care for many centuries cover the moun- 
tain to its base. For miles around the shrines be- 
token the vicinity of the monastery. Coya-san is 
the oldest Buddhist monastery in Japan. It was 
founded by Kobu-Daishi thirteen hundred years 
ago. This same man introduced Buddhism into 
Japan. He selected this mountain summit and 
built a small temple, and spent his life in propagat- 
ing his creed. He lived a life of great self-denial. 
He rose early, prayed long and often, and fasted 
frequently. Instead of using a mirror, he looked 
into a cistern when he arranged his hair. When, 
after a long life of labor, his end drew near, he sent 



24O LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

all his companions away from the temple. He told 
them that when they no longer heard the sound of 
the bell that he tapped when he prayed, they might 
know that Kobu-Daishi was dead. Faintly hummed 
the bell all day long. Fainter were its notes as 
night drew on ; and in the gray dawn, when the 
priests slid back the sliojccs, Kobu-Daishi lay dead 
upon the floor before Buddha in Nirvana, and was 
devoutly clasping his rosary. 

But the temple grew, and within a few years a 
vast monastery covered the mountain summit. 
Thousands of priests officiated at the shrines. The 
place became a city of priests. Commerce was in- 
terdicted ; trade was not allowed. Profound peace 
and quiet reigned. Women were not allowed 
within five miles of the base of the mountain. 
Sacred fires were kept perpetually burning from the 
original flame that Kobu-Daishi brought from 
India. Hundreds of these lights are kept in a vast 
room. They never go out. Priests watch them 
night and day. Some of the lamps must have 
been kept burning many centuries. When a prince 
dies he will donate a fund to the monastery to 
keep a lamp, lit from Kobu-Daishi's flame, per- 
petually burning. 

In front of this shrine is a huge meteoric stone 
in a large cage. The story is that when Kobu- 
Daishi went to India he flung it back into Japan to 
announce his arrival. 

After walking through many streets and avenues 
lined with shrines and temples, you strike out into 



A TRIP THROUGH CLASSIC JAPAN. 24 1 

a long, somber avenue of pine trees that is over a 
mile and a half in length. On either hand are 
tombs. This is the cemetery of the monastery. 
Here is found the first tombstone erected in Japan. 
It is about five feet high. It is of stone, and is 
more like a pyramid in its shape than anything else 
I can compare it to. It is covered with Sanskrit 
inscriptions, like all the other graves. Many of 
the Daimios of Japan are buried here. Some of 
their tombs are very elaborate. Granite and bronze 
are the chief materials employed. All those buried 
here were first cremated. This ceremony was often 
attended with very imposing services. 

The Buddhist literature of the monastery is very 
ancient and valuable. It is all in Sanskrit, and is 
quite unintelligible to the priests in general. 

At present there are not over three hundred 
priests connected with Coya-san, but in its palmy 
days, before the Revolution, it numbered from three 
to five thousand. 

In the house set apart for a hotel, it is curious to 
notice all the servants and waiters being men. 
They all have shaved heads. I was also much in- 
terested in seeing weasels running all over the 
roofs. Upon inquiry we were informed that as 
the priests could not take life in any form, they 
became rapidly overrun with rats. Weasels were 
then introduced, and the rats disappeared. But 
there was nothing to drive away the weasels. So 
for centuries they have become permanent fixtures. 
When you ask the priests why they were not re- 
16 



242 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

sponsible for causing the death of so many rats, 
they simply reply that the rats could have left had 
they found the locality too dangerous ! Another 
feature of Coya-san is the absence of mosquitoes. 
So cool is the air that these tormentors are rarely 
seen. 

Were I disposed to dream away life in profound 
repose and ambitionless existence, I would select 
Coya-san. 

A?tg. 30. — We are back again in Kioto, being 
well pleased and well tired with our tramp of six 
hundred miles. 



I am now engaged for a year, teaching at Kioto. 
The Satsuma Rebellion so drained the government 
funds that it was found necessary to close the 
school in which I was teaching at Tokio. I will 
endeavor to give you my impressions of Kioto be- 
fore long. 

Yours truly, 

Theophilus Pratt. 




THE GREAT BELL AT DAT-Bl'TZ TEMPLE, KIOTO. 

{Native Photograph.) 



LETTER XIV. 

KIOTO. 

Kioto, September 10, 1877. 

Dear Julius Marcellus : 

Kioto is the most interesting city in Japan. A 
thousand years of history, poetry, and romance 
cluster around it. It is situated in the Province of 
Yamashiro (Mountain Castle), in the heart of Japan. 
High mountains surround it on the eastern, north- 
ern, and western sides, thus protecting it from the 
cold winds during the winter, while, during the 
summer, the sea breezes cool it from the south. 

Through the center of the city flows the Kamo- 
Gawa (River of the Wild Ducks). This noisy 
stream, let loose from the mountains on the north, 
comes tumbling along over pebbles, bowlders, and 
sand-bars. During heavy rains it assumes formid- 
able proportions. Three or four long wooden bridges 
span it, and connect the two halves of the city. 
The Kamo-Gawa flows southward through Fusime, 
the southern suburb of Kioto ; thence it winds 
among foot-hills and rice-fields through a very pic- 
turesque country for about thirty miles, until it 
loses itself in the waters of Osaca Bay. 

In 1875, before the railway was constructed, 



244 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

when I visited Kioto for the first time, I had to 
come up this river in a long, flat-bottomed boat. 
In old times this river was the principal means of 
approach from Osaca. 

In coming here from Tokio, you may choose 
from three routes. The quickest is by steamer to 
Kobe, and thence by railway for fifty miles. This 
journey requires about three days. The second 
route is by the Tokaido over Hakone Pass, beside 
the base of majestic Fujisan, through the fishing 
villages along the coast and through Nagoya, and 
then around the southern end of Lake Biwa through 
a gap in the mountains to Kioto. This trip occu- 
pies about ten days journeying by jinriks ha. This 
was the route by which I returned to Tokio in 
1875. It is a magnificent highway, shaded for a 
great distance by cryptomeiria of centuries' growth. 
The third route is by the Nakasendo (Inland Road). 
This is the grandest of all the routes. It comes 
directly through the inland provinces, crossing the 
magnificent mountains of Shinano. 

The population of Kioto numbers about five 
hundred thousand souls. The city is built in the 
usual Japanese fashion. In the center lies the now 
deserted Gosho, the ancient residence of the em- 
perors. It covers but a few acres of ground, and 
the gardens and parks are inclosed with a high 
wall. 

Skirting the city on all sides are groves, gardens, 
pagodas, temples, and monasteries. The encircling 
foot-hills are covered with them. These temples 



KIOTO. 245 

and monasteries formed the pride and glory of 
Kioto. At one time in the city's history there 
were four thousand of them. Many of the monas- 
teries are surrounded by deep groves and acres of 
greensward and shrubbery. Immense groves of 
cherry trees are scattered over all the foot-hills and 
in all the gardens around the villas and temples, so 
that in the spring the city seems to be fringed with 
clouds of white and pink blossoms which, with a 
background of majestic mountains, form a scene 
of peerless beauty. Seen at such times from the 
top of one of the surrounding mountains, the city 
lies at your feet like a lovely garden — sweet as we 
might imagine a glimpse of paradise to be. 

I shall not attempt to give you a minute descrip- 
tion of the various temples of Kioto. The task 
would be indeed formidable. I send you, however, 
Satow's Guide Book to Kioto, which will furnish you 
considerable interesting information. I will only 
attempt to describe three or four of the temples 
that have most impressed me. 

Just back of my house lies the monastery of 
Chioin. It covers the entire hill side, and is one of 
the largest in the empire. The central edifice is an 
immense affair. Like all the native structures in 
Japan, it is built entirely of wood. The huge pil- 
lars supporting the immense roof are of kayake. 
The roof is a wonderfully heavy affair. Taking the 
tiles and rafters together, the thickness must be 
about ten feet. The object of so heavy a roof is 
to neutralize the effect of earthquake shocks upon 



246 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

the pillars. This structure was erected two or 
three hundred years ago. Far up amid the tangled 
maze of rafters, the priest points out to you the 
umbrella that the architect left sticking there cent- 
uries ago. This temple is considered the finest 
structure of its kind in Japan. It was built regard- 
less of expense. In the grove beside it is a belfry 
containing the largest bell in Japan. The height is 
said to be eighteen feet. I was unable to meas- 
ure it for myself as it hung in the belfry, but the 
thickness of the bronze at its mouth measured ten 
inches. Like all bells in Japan, this one has no 
tongue, but it is struck from the outside by letting 
a heavy log of wood swing against its massive sides. 
It requires eight men to properly manipulate this 
huge piece of timber in order to swing it with accu- 
rate precision, so as not to deaden the sound. I 
had the pleasure of hearing it rung several times. 
The sound is a deep-toned boom — grand and mag- 
nificent beyond expression. The trembling vibra- 
tions that follow the boom last quite a while, and 
fill the groves with soft and deeply melancholy 
melody. 

Leaving Chioin and skirting the suburbs in a 
northerly direction, we come to a singular structure 
known as the Kin-Kakku-Gi. In ancient times an 
emperor, tired of the seclusion of the Gosho, de- 
cided to abdicate. He accordingly built this resi- 
dence for himself in a most lovely locality at the 
base of the mountains, surrounding it with exten- 
sive gardens filled with lakes, dwarfed landscape, 



KIOTO. 247 

and shrubbery. The ceilings and walls of the 
building were covered with sheets of pure silver. 
This location is specially celebrated for the superb 
view of the moon that can be had as it rises over 
the mountains. Here the emperor spent his life 
in meditation and in composing poetry. And the 
surroundings were certainly congenial to such occu- 
pations, for a lovelier locality would be difficult to 
find. On a clear night, the queenly moon floats 
above the mountain top, bathing the ravines and 
gardens in a soft, dreamy light ; and the dwarfed 
pines and the shrubbery, reflected in the calm 
waters of the lakes, seem but unsubstantial crea- 
tions of the fancy. 

Upon the other side of the city is another struct- 
ure of a similar character, known as the Gin- 
Kakku-Gi. It is upon a larger scale than the Kin- 
Kakku-Gi. It was built "by another emperor for 
similar purposes. Instead of being covered with 
sheets of silver, however, it was covered with sheets 
of gold. It is embowered in gardens and groves. 

I shall not attempt to give any further descrip- 
tion of the temples of Kioto. Even at the present 
day, they are numbered by hundreds. Not only 
are the suburbs filled with these shrines and monas- 
teries, but the surrounding mountains abound with 
them. Near the summit of Hiyeisan, a cone that 
towers to an altitude of nearly five thousand feet, 
about seven miles north-east of the city, is a superb 
monastery that I shall describe more at length 
hereafter. 



248 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Kioto was the religious center of Japan. The 
emperor was the patron of religion, and Buddhism 
was the preferred creed. The monasteries were 
famous centers of ecclesiastical learning. As the 
priests were learned men, their monasteries also be- 
came centers of elegant culture and refinement — 
famous colleges, in fact, where the gentry were ed- 
ucated. Emperors have received tutoring within 
these sacred inclosures. Kioto was built over one 
thousand years ago. The emperor moved to this 
place from Nara. Although the surroundings of 
Kioto are so serene and lovely, yet its history has 
been one of almost continued bloodshed. For 
centuries it was the center of intrigue and civil 
discord. Repeatedly has it been burned to the 
ground. But during the past three hundred years, 
under the Tokugawa regime, profound peace has 
prevailed, and the city has prospered greatly. 

I found the Kioto people to be very different 
from the Tokio people. They regard themselves 
as the most cultured portion of the empire. They 
highly pride themselves upon their aristocratic 
blood. They possess much supercilious pride and 
a vast amount of indolence. In few parts of Japan 
— I will go further and say that in no part of Japan 
— are foreigners treated with such cool and patron- 
izing contempt as here. Nor are the natives re- 
markably popular with their own countrymen. 
They characterize outsiders as uncultured and 
boorish — a criticism not very highly relished by 
Japanese at large, as you may naturally infer. 



KIOTO. 249 

The people are much given up to pleasure. The 
theaters are numerous and well patronized. The 
various holidays and festivals are celebrated with 
processions and feastings. Religious festivals are 
exceedingly common. Each monastery has its 
fete days ; the people celebrate them by turning 
out in immense crowds, dressed in gala costume, 
and thronging the streets and groves, picnicing 
and gossiping to their heart's content. 

The most extraordinary of all the holidays is the 
day set apart in honor of the courtesans. In other 
parts of Japan the observance of this day has ceased, 
but it is still celebrated with much zest here. I 
happened to be here last July when it was being 
celebrated. All day long the people were busy 
erecting booths, platforms, and scaffoldings along 
the streets where the procession was going to pass 
in the evening. At dusk the entire city was gor- 
geously illuminated with paper lanterns. The 
courtesans slowly paraded the streets in panto- 
mime, each group personating some domestic or 
social scene. One group represented a lady with 
her maids at work in the garden ; they were sprink- 
ling water upon the plants, dressing the shrubbery, 
and catching butterflies. The bushes, the flowers, 
the soil, and the general paraphernalia of a real 
garden surrounded them on all sides upon moving 
platforms and vehicles. The effect of the scene 
was capital. A lot of half-tipsy coolies helped 
along the ladies by pulling the vehicles through 
the street. 



25O LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Another scene represented silk weavers. There 
were the looms and the shuttles. There were the 
revolving reels and the rapidly forming warp and 
woof. While to complete the domestic scene in 
all its details, an imitation dog lay upon the floor 
and wagged its tail in obedience to the skillfully 
manipulated string of the attendant. 

In another scene the matron was in the kitchen 
preparing the evening meal. There were the oven 
and the kettle, and the mischievous child always 
in the way. The rice was steamed, the fish was 
broiled, and the salt radish was cut up, in a way 
fairly enough to excite the cravings of hunger. 

It took several hours for the various pantomimes 
to pass. The courtesans were dressed with great 
magnificence. Some had on seven robes, each one 
of which would have befitted a queen. Every- 
thing was very orderly. The ceremonies were 
conducted with great propriety, and the crowds 
showed great decorum and respect, as this was 
considered the courtesans' yearly offering of de- 
votion to the gods. 

During the summer the people in Kioto take 
things very easy. The surrounding hills and moun- 
tains abound in groves, cascades, and glens. These 
cool resorts are thronged with jolly picnicers all 
day long. The amount of rice, wine, and water- 
melon that a Jap can annihilate on such occasions 
is amazing. He gives up the entire day, and fre- 
quently a succession of days, to merry-making. 
He calculates to arrive at the shady glen before 



KIOTO. 251 

the heat of the day has set in. A slice of water- 
melon is to be found in his hand at most any time 
before lunch. He and his companions lounge 
around upon matted platforms scattered all through 
the glen. Between times they smoke their pipes 
and gossip, occasionally stretching their limbs and 
uttering stentorian yawns that* fairly shake the 
trees. Just before lunch they strip themselves for 
a bath in the cascade. This process is conducted 
with boundless sang froid, in view of the circum- 
stance that the glen is swarming with people. 
Having whetted their appetites sufficiently, they 
take hold of a tubful of rice and a cask of sake with 
a zest quite impossible to describe. Raw carp and 
soy are taken as relishes. After lunch, they again 
fall upon their water-melons, pipes, and bathing. 
Toward sundown another assault is delivered 
against the rice-tub and wine-cask. And in the 
cool gloaming they disperse and homeward fly, — 
provided none of them have been disabled during 
the assault. 

Such is a brief description of the salient points of 
Kioto. To go fully into the subject would require 
a book — which I do not intend writing. 

I am situated, as regards my house and social 
surroundings, far more pleasantly than when I was 
in Hirosaki. 

My house is an old temple near the entrance to 
the Chioin monastery. It was built about three 
hundred years ago, and was originally designed as 
a residence for the ladies of the Shogun's house- 



252 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

hold in case they should chance to visit Kioto. 
But as the ladies never came, the priests utilized 
the house as a temple. It is very substantially 
built. A broad veranda surrounds it, and it has a 
heavy tile roof supported by massive timbers. 
There is but a single story, and as you may easily 
imagine, the ceiling is immensely high. A fine 
suite of six rooms constitute my apartments. The 
sJwjccs are covered with gilt paper and are set in 
lacquered frames. They are beautifully orna- 
mented. In a wing attached to my house are 
three rooms for the boy, and also the kitchen. 
This kitchen I will describe more fully in the latter 
part of this letter. Surrounding these premises on 
all sides is a lovely and extensive garden, and we 
are inclosed by a wall through which ingress may 
be obtained by a stately gateway. I could not de- 
sire a more private residence. 

My neighbors are all Buddhist priests. The one 
on my right-hand is busily engaged every day in 
drilling a class of boys in the Buddhist chants. He 
keeps at it so regularly that I frequently find my- 
self unconsciously humming the monotonous scores 
of the dreamy rhythms. The priest on my left- 
hand is a very religious man, judging from the 
amount of praying that he indulges in. He spends 
two or three hours daily at his matins and vespers. 
He begins with a slow, droning chant, tapping on 
a little bell betimes. His chant rapidly increases 
in intensity, until you hear but a prolonged whir- 
ring sound accompanied by the silvery notes of the 



KIOTO. 



253 



humming bell. Then the sounds slowly subside 
until the prayer ends as it began in measured ca- 
dence and subdued tones. Then you know that 
the beads on the rosary have been counted. He 
goes over his rosary again and again, until I am 
fairly drowsy listening to him. 

As you already know, it is forbidden to the 
Buddhists to destroy life in any shape. As a nat- 
ural consequence of the following of this doctrine, 
the precincts of their monasteries abound in all 
kinds of life peculiar to the various localities. Cen- 
tipedes fully six inches long are frequently seen 
around here in the gardens. They sometimes get 
into the houses, and make themselves as disagree- 
able as possible. Should you hang your coat upon 
the walls, you will probably find one of these hor- 
rid creatures in the sleeve when you attempt to 
put it on again. Their bites or stings are painful 
but not mortal. Snakes and lizards also are about 
as plentiful as it is possible for them to be after 
centuries of pampering within these sacred incis- 
ures. 

And if it were not for the friendly services of the 
weasels, the audacious impudence and the obtru- 
sive familiarity of the rats and mice would speedily 
render the existence of man quite problematical. 
But it is not quite so easy to exterminate the 
snakes. They, however, avoid the presence of 
man, and keep clear of his abode. During the 
heavy rains last week, when I was in the bath- 
room, a small one fell from the rafters across my 



254 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

shoulder and slipped down upon my bare feet. I 
jumped aside with a mighty spring, and the reptile 
squirmed through a crack in the floor out into the 
garden. I can not go out into my garden without 
seeing half a dozen lizards basking themselves in 
the sunshine, and I have no doubt that in the dense 
shrubbery and in the extensive bamboo copses 
scattered all around here, snakes could be found by 
the score. It is very fortunate that the snakes in 
Japan are of a harmless nature. In the vicinity of 
Buddhist monasteries in the tropics you will find 
serpents of great size, — provided such monasteries 
are not in the immediate vicinity of teeming popu- 
lations. 

But the most surprising creatures that seek 
refuge within these sacred inclosures are the foxes. 
A family of them live under my house. They are 
plentiful all around here. At night-time they come 
out and scour the suburbs and hills for poultry and 
birds. They probably visit all the Inari shrines 
for miles around, feasting upon the fried wheat 
cakes that have been prepared for their special 
benefit by the fox-worshipers. During their ram- 
bles around my garden, they frequently come across 
my neighbors' dogs. After indulging in animated 
snarling and purring for ab,out five minutes, they 
will part company. As the native dogs are too 
cowardly to come to close quarters, the foxes find 
their strange abodes about as safe as they can 
desire. 

My household arrangements are upon a very 



KIOTO. 



255 



simple scale. As my contract is only for one 
year, it will not pay me to buy very much furni- 
ture, and if this Satsuma rebellion continues 
much longer to drain the government funds, I may 
not stay out my year. Any furniture that I might 
buy now would be a dead loss when I came to 
leave, for the natives do not use European furni- 
ture, and the few missionary families here are al- 
ready well supplied. 

My bedroom is adorned with severe simplicity. 
I sleep on the floor after the native fashion. Dur- 
ing the day-time my bedding is stowed away in the 
closet. In one corner of the room stands my zinc 
trunk, which answers the double purpose of ward- 
robe and money-chest. A wash-stand and two 
chairs complete the furnishing of the room. All 
the floors throughout the house are covered with 
fine tatamis. My study has a table and two chairs, 
and my parlor has a table and four chairs ; the 
walls, corners, and sides of the room being orna- 
mented with curios and bric-a-brac. The dining- 
room has a table and three chairs, while the spare 
room is quite bare. 

My kitchen is about as interesting as any part of 
the house. It is without any furniture whatsoever — 
not even a cooking range. For cooking purposes 
my boy uses a couple of small earthen ovens, no 
larger than a pair of flower-pots. It is astonishing 
how he manages to cook at all. Yet he certainly 
does marvelously well with omelets, soups, broiled 
chickens, and fried potatoes. His fuel is charcoal. 



256 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

This produces a powerful heat, and is compara- 
tively free from smoke. The only important uten- 
sil that he uses is a gridiron. All the other articles 
are of native production, and consist of an iron 
pot, a frying-pan, and a couple of insignificant clay 
bowls, in which he boils potatoes and puddings. 
With such primitive utensils he displays great in- 
genuity in preparing food. The other day I in- 
vited the two directors to dinner. The first course 
was tomato soup. Then came boiled fish, with egg 
sauce. Then came broiled venison and baked pota- 
toes. After this came a quasi plum pudding, com- 
posed of currants instead of plums, and of suet 
and flour. The wine sauce accompanying it could 
not have been surpassed, although the " wine " was 
some brandy that he had clandestinely abstracted 
from my medicine chest. The dessert of this ex- 
traordinary dinner consisted of peaches, plums, and 
grapes. 

But every rose has its thorn. My boy will get 
drunk. About once a fortnight he goes on a 
spree and comes staggering into the kitchen an 
hour or so behind time. His apologies and prom- 
ises of reform are as profuse as can be desired ; but 
his periodical sprees come in regular order never- 
theless. I shall be compelled to part with him be- 
fore long. But as I am in the immediate vicinity 
of a Treaty Port, where competent cooks are plen- 
tiful, I shall not have much trouble in replacing 
him. It is truly amazing how these Japs pick up 
our style of cooking. They all soon learn to cook 



KIOTO. 257 

fairly well ; and some of them become exquisite 
adepts in cuisine. 

So much for my household affairs. My school 
duties are similar to those in Tokio. I usually 
walk the three miles between my house and the 
school. The hours are from nine in the morning 
to three in the afternoon, Saturdays and Sundays 
being holidays. The scholars are mostly young 
men of the samurai class. 

As to my social surroundings I cannot say much, 
as they are very limited. There are only four 
foreign families here, three of whom are those of 
American missionaries. These people are hospita- 
ble and friendly, and I spend many a profitable 
evening in their company. 

I must now close this rambling letter. Kioto is 
a difficult subject to write upon if one wishes to 
avoid giving hackneyed information about the place. 
Yours truly, 

Theophilus Pratt. 
17 



LETTER XV. 

AN EXCURSION TO NARA. 

Kioto, September 17, 1877. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

I TOOK a trip to Nara the other day. This city 
is about thirty miles from Kioto. Having no pass- 
port, I was under the necessity of going and re- 
turning on the same day. We started off early in 
the morning in our ji?irikshas, and arrived there 
about midday. This gave us fully half a day to 
inspect the place ; and we had the cool night in 
which to return to Kioto. The trip was a thor- 
oughly enjoyable one, although rather wearisome. 
The road lay through a somewhat level country — 
fairly picturesque, but rather uninteresting; and 
we were glad enough to reach Nara in time for 
lunch I can assure you. 

Nara was the ancient capital of the emperors. It 
is situated among picturesque hills near some 
mountains. In its days of prosperity it was a 
large and handsome city, but its present popula- 
tion is not over twenty thousand ; and nothing re- 
mains of its ancient glory except the vast temple 
and colossal image of Buddha,* or Dai-Bntz, as 

*The illustration on the opposite page is a reproduction 
from a Japanese painting that had hung on the walls of some 




THE DEATH OK BUDDHA. 

{See Footnote on next page.) 



AN EXCURSION TO NARA. 259 

the natives designate it. Otherwise the place bears 
no comparison with lovely Kioto. 

Passing down the long, straggling street that 
/orms the backbone of the town, you will see, on 
your left, an immense grove of stately pines and 
cedars stretching over hills and vales far away 

monastery or temple for about fifty years prior to its sale to the 
author at Nagoya in 1877. It was sold because the disestablish- 
ment of Buddhism as the State religion of the Japanese Empire 
had produced great poverty in that sect. The illustration repre- 
sents the supposed scene at the death-bed of Buddha. So great 
a benefactor had he been that all creation is represented as mourn- 
ing at his death — personages of royal birth, celebrities of various 
nationalities, animals of varied species, fowls of the air, and even 
the fiends from hell are represented as bewailing the misfortune 
which the great mercifulness of Buddha's nature had rendered 
universal. At the top of the picture, descending upon clouds and 
mists, is represented the mother of Buddha, accompanied by 
female friends and preceded by a guide, coming from Paradise to 
witness the closing scene in the life of her illustrious son. Her 
lamentations are violent, because of the fact that the mystic medi- 
cine that she had sent to her son had been carried away from his 
bedside by some thieving cat, which had scampered up into a tall 
tree with it, thus rendering the recovery of the renowned philan- 
thropist impossible. To the left-hand side of the picture, high up 
among the boughs, may be seen the unlucky bag of medicine. 
The contents thereof have melted, and are represented as run- 
ning down the trunk of the tree. The artist, as a solemn warning 
to all future generations of feline depredators, and also, we may pre- 
sume, as condign punishment for the immediate freebooter that 
had absconded with madame's physic, has failed to represent a cat 
in any part of his painting. The entire scene is located by the 
artist upon the sea-shore, where the waves may be seen through the 
trees. In this representation he carries out the legend which 
chronicles Buddha as having died upon some part of the coast of 
Ceylon. 



260 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

into the mountains. Looming above the trees 
you will see the massive roof of the temple con- 
taining the monster image. The tiles are im- 
mensely heavy, and are bound together with strong 
iron bands. The thickness of the roof is fully ten 
feet. Surrounding this central figure like attendant 
guards, are several smaller temples, scarcely show- 
ing their gables above the trees. Coming now to 
a long, stately avenue, we go up for nearly half a 
mile through two huge gateways to the temple. 
The gateway, through which we first pass, merits a 
special description. It is a large, double-storied 
tower, about fifty feet high. The upper story is 
filled with dilapidated idols. Through the lower 
passes the gateway. On each side of the portal 
are two gigantic images about twenty feet high. 
Their faces are distorted in the most hideous 
fashion, and the weapons in their hands are poised 
in a threatening manner. The ancient coating of 
red paint has dropped from their bodies, and the 
heat of many centuries has warped the hard wood, 
so that the muscular arms and legs have split 
open to the center. These images are the gods 
of wrestlers and mighty men of valor. People 
desiring to excel in physical strength come here 
to worship. Their method of devotion is rather 
singular. The prayers are carefully written on 
small pieces of paper, which, after having been 
chewed up into spit-balls, are then deliberately 
flung at the grim deities — it being considered quite 
essential that the missiles should stick fast. The 



AN EXCURSION TO NARA. 26 1 

monsters are covered with these concise supplica- 
tions. 

Passing through this gateway, we enter upon a 
continuation of the avenue. The stately pines 
screen us admirably from the sun, and the green- 
sward on all sides refreshes the eyes nearly blinded 
with the glare of the dusty road from Kioto. 
Under the trees are tea-booths furnishing refresh- 
ments to travelers and devotees. Appropriating 
some seats in the shade, we plunged into the 
depths of a water-melon, and ate vermicelli and 
pickled plums for the space of half an hour. 

Continuing our stroll down the avenue, we came 
to a second gateway, through which we passed into 
a vast court-yard. On fete days, several thousand 
people are accommodated within this spacious in- 
closure. On the other side of it- stands the temple. 
This building was originally of a bright vermilion 
color, but the rains of centuries have washed it 
bare. Across the face of the temple runs a high 
vestibule whose roof is supported by large wooden 
columns. The entire structure is of wood. The 
roof is supported by sixty huge wooden pillars. 

From one of the pamphlets distributed by the 
priest within the vestibule the following informa- 
tion is derived : 

"The original temple of Dai-Butz was built in 
the reign of the Emperor Shiomu, the forty-sixth 
Emperor of Japan, who lived about 1524 years ago. 
It took eleven years to cast the idol and to build 
the temple. Four hundred and twenty-nine years 



262 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

after the completion of the temple, during one of 
the civil feuds, Taira-Shigehira, a famous chieftain, 
destroyed it. Five years thereafter it was rebuilt, 
and the image was recast. Four hundred and 
eighty-four years then slipped away, and a fierce 
battle took place between Matsunaga-Hisahide and 
Miyoshi-Yasunaga, two feudal chiefs, during which 
the image and the temple were again destroyed. 
And about seven hundred years ago the present 
edifice was built ; and the present head and shoul- 
ders, which had been melted during the previous 
conflagration, were recast." 

Closing the pamphlet and crossing the threshold 
of the temple, we see Dai-Butz looming up before 
us to the height of seventy feet. In the middle of 
the temple is an immense stone platform nearly 
two hundred feet in circumference, and ten feet 
high. Upon this platform is constructed a smaller 
one of solid bronze, six feet high. Its surface is 
composed of bronze petals of the lotus flower. 
Seated cross-legged upon this flowery throne is 
Buddha in Nirvana, — a stupendous, olive-colored 
image. This is the largest bronze image in the 
world. The actual height of the idol, measuring 
from the bronze platform, is fifty-three feet and five 
inches. It is proportioned for a standing image 
one hundred feet high. 

Turning to our pamphlet, we find that this 
image is seven hundred years old. Seven succes- 
sive castings were made before a satisfactory piece 
of work could be produced. 






AN EXCURSION TO NARA. 



263 



Three thousand tons of charcoal were consumed 
during the operation. The total weight of the 
metal used is four hundred and fifty tons. The 
alloys are proportioned as follows : 



Gold = 


500 pounds avoirdupois 


Tin = 


16,827 


Mercury = 


1,984 " 


Copper = 


986,080 * " 



Total = 1,005,391 " " 

Taking for granted that the figures transmitted 
to us by antiquity are accurate, it will appear that 
this idol contains nearly 300,000 pounds more of 
metal than the Colossus of Rhodes contained. 
And its proportions must be almost the same. 
The following figures will convey to your mind 
some idea of the immense size of this image : 



Height from throne . . . 

" " floor 

Length of face 

Width " " 

Length of eyebrow . . . 

" " eye 

Breadth of nose 

Height " " 

Length of mouth 

" " ear 

Width across shoulders 

" " breast... 

" " abdomen 
Length of upper arm . 

" " forearm 



53 

70 

16 

9 

5 
3 
2 

1 

3 
8 
28 
18 
18 
19 
15 



5 
4i 

9 
9^ 

6 

7 
5 
7 



264 



LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 



Length of palm 

" " middle finger 

Length from knee to foot 

Diameter of knee 

Circumference of middle finger 

Height of each lotus petal 

Width " " " " 

Height of each curl on head 

Diameter of each curl on head. ( There are 966 

curls on the head.) 

Diameter of back of throne 

Length of each ray protruding from back of throne. 

Height of temple 

Length" " 

Width 4 ' " 




The image is hollow, the average thickness of 
the bronze being about one foot. The lower parts 
and the bronze pedestal, however, must be almost 
solid. It has been cast in separate pieces, and 
these have been joined together with a kind of 
metallic cement, leaving a barely perceptible mark. 
The surfaces of the lotus petals composing the 
pedestal are covered with minute engravings repre- 
senting temples, dragons, combats between fiends, 
shrines perched on little knolls, various kinds of 
flowers, and a few other heathenish conceptions. 

The left hand of the image extends along the 
knee, with the third and fourth fingers slightly 
raised. The open palm projects over the knee as 
if offering something to a needy individual, or 
showing the plausibility of some pet idea. A 
grand piano could easily be set upon the hand 



AN EXCURSION TO NARA. 265 

thus opened ; you could comfortably lie down in 
the palm, and you sit upon the thumb as you 
would upon a log of wood. The position of the 
right hand is somewhat different. The wrist is 
slightly elevated above the right knee, the open 
hand being raised at right angles to the forearm as 
if trying to push something back, — a repelling ges- 
ture. The eyes are half shut. The face is fat and 
flabby. The general expression is sleepy and good 
natured. The image is represented as dressed in a 
simple priest's robe. The folds and creases have 
been cast with wonderful accuracy. 

Behind the image is the gilt back of its throne, 
upon which are sixteen brackets holding sixteen 
bronze images, nine feet high each. In front are 
two colossal bronze vases, containing bronze lotus 
plants, twenty feet high. Perched on the rim of 
each vase is a large bronze butterfly, with a span 
across the wings of five feet ; and upon each side 
of the image is an immense wooden statue forty 
feet high. 

Everything, in fact, has been planned upon an 
immense scale. The only thing approximating to 
a musical instrument is a huge drum with its head 
battered to 'shreds. The floor is of hardened earth. 
The gigantic pillars are formed of massive, wedge- 
shaped slices of wood, bound together with iron 
bands. The ceilings and walls are quite bereft of 
paint ; the spiders spin their webs in unbecoming 
proximity to His Majesty's head. 

At first sight, the proportions of this image are 



266 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

very deceptive. Looking up at the middle finger, 
you would not be apt to guess its length at more 
than two feet, yet, upon measurement, it will prove 
to be five feet long ; but, after taking a few meas- 
urements, the tremendous proportions gradually 
dawn upon you. 

This, then, is the materialized conception of 
Buddha in Nirvana. The dreamy reveries of the 
persecuted Brahmin have thus found ponderous 
shape in this remote corner of the world. Under 
the blistering and enervating heat of India, what 
strange visions were evolved from the brain of 
that mysterious individual whose dreams of Nir- 
vana have shaped the religious natures of millions 
of human beings for over two thousand years ! 

Leaving the drowsy atmosphere of the temple, 
we sauntered over the grounds of the monastery. 
A covered way leads to a grove on the hillside. 
Climbing a long flight of broad stone steps, we 
came to an old belfry containing a large bell. The 
bell, according to my pamphlet, was cast 628 A.D., 
having been made at the special request of Shimo- 
Tenno. Its dimensions and composition are given 
as follows: 

Height, 13^ feet. 
Diameter at mouth, 9^ feet. 
Thickness of metal, 10^6 inches. 
Amount of copper, 26 tons and 600 lbs. 

" " tin, 1 ton and 500 lbs. 
Total weight, 55,100 lbs. 



1 



AN EXCURSION TO NARA. 267 

In the vicinity of this belfry are several booths 
for the sale of trinkets, charms, and mementoes. 
Old pieces of bone, horn, and ivory, have been 
carved into tooth-picks, combs, hair-pins, etc., for the 
devotees and visitors to purchase. You will also 
see some old swords and spears, said to have been 
used by the retainers of Hideyoshi in the invasion 
of Corea three hundred years ago. Returning 
from their victories and conquests, they hung up 
their weapons here to show their gratitude for the 
successful issue of the enterprise — much in the 
same' way, I imagine, as the shipwrecked Roman 
sailors hung up in the temples their dripping gar- 
ments to testify their appreciation of Neptune's 
merciful assistance. And, as the dampened tunics 
have long since been taken down from the moldy 
walls, so these ancient blades are rapidly disappear- 
ing before the impetuous advance of our mercenary 
curio hunters. 

The masses of the Japanese are very religious, 
or superstitious, as some choose to term it. Bud- 
dhism gained a hold on the popular heart that 
Shintoism and Confucianism failed to gain. Not 
satisfied with erecting this immense image, they 
constructed another one, almost as large, at Kama- 
kura, near Yokohama. It is in a lovely glade on 
the Pacific coast. It was cast about six hundred 
years ago by order of the Shoguns, whose capital at 
that time was Kamakura. The height of this image 
is forty-four feet. The physical proportions, how- 
ever, are much smaller than those of the one here 



2 68 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

in Nara. Its head is bent forward a trifle more, 
and its hands are folded. In other respects it is an 
exact copy. The temple that formerly sheltered it 
was carried away by an earthquake wave. Five 
successive tidal billows came rolling in from the 
Pacific. As the last surge, black with people and 
the debris of the city, rushed down the valley, it 
carried the temple out to sea. So he sits there in 
the open air, his head looming above the pine- 
trees, and his face turned toward the peaceful 
waters of the ocean — typical of the dreamless 
Nirvana. The bronze is assuming a dull green 
color, being affected by the corrosive influence 
of the moist winds that come from the Pacific. 
There is a staircase inside of the image. A large 
window in the back floods the cavernous vitals 
with light, showing the names of scores of 
ambitious foreigners scrawled in all conceivable 
places. 

Late in the afternoon we began to think of 
returning to Kioto. We had rambled over the 
grounds and had inspected every nook. The 
monastery showed decided marks of neglect. 
The leaves covered the avenues and the green- 
swards, and the lichens and the moss seemed 
to take melancholy satisfaction in creeping into 
all the crevices of the old shrines. 

What somber reflections such scenes excite! 
Here in the belfry hangs the bell that sent its sol- 
emn tones through the glades and groves, calling 
the monks to chant their matins and vespers, while 



i 



AN EXCURSION TO NARA. 269 

Europe was yet in mediaeval gloom. The Algon- 
quins battled with the Iroquois beside the waters of 
the Hudson while these mellow tones trembled 
through the upland woods, summoning the votaries 
to chant their monotonous rhythms before the grim 
monster presiding within the sanctuary below. One 
can almost fancy he sees the phantom-like proces- 
sion of yellow-robed priests sweeping through yon- 
der gateway, across the court-yard, up the steps, and 
into the evening shades of the gloomy building. 
They prostrate themselves before the sable god, 
dimly perceptible through the dusky shadows and 
.the smoke of the burning incense. The huge drum 
shakes the place with its bellowings, while the bell 
rends the air with its throbbing notes — drowning 
the murmurs of the assembled throng. The priests 
now increase the volume of their chants, their 
notes are pitched on a higher key, and their rapid 
hummings fill the immense room with a tempest of 
prayer. The immense brazen gongs strike up, the 
drum shakes the place with its stupendous din, the 
bell sends one continued wave of clangor rolling 
up among the dusky pines and down over the town 
nestled among the foot-hills — and the people then 
know that the dread god is being propitiated. 

As the chants increase in rapidity, the long pro- 
cession marches and counter-marches, prostrates it- 
self, kneels and rises with bewildering celerity. In 
the faint twilight a weak imagination could almost 
fancy the placid features of the image to relax into a 
smile in contemplation, forsooth, of such pageantry. 



270 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

The din now gradually dies away, the drum and the 
bell are silent, the torrent of supplication subsides, 
the tapers are extinguished, the smoking incense 
on the altar expends its fumes, and the procession 
files out in solemn order through the shadows of 
the portals. Unbroken silence again settles upon 
the place, and the people slumber peacefully, know- 
ing that his majesty has been pacified for the night ; 
while the belated peasant, hurrying through the 
somber avenues, as he sees the shadows of the 
gloomy pines cast upon the crimson walls of the 
sanctuary, hastens his steps lest his untimely in- 
trusion arouse the latent ire of unseen powers. 

When the morning mists float slowly away from 
the rice-fields, the long line again marches across 
the court-yard and through the portals; the same 
pageantry, din, and turmoil again rouse the echoes 
of the place, and the drowsy townfolk then know 
that the morning prayers are being offered up, and 
they feel safe, for how can so fine an idol turn a 
deaf ear to such pompous supplications? 

And so, for more than twelve hundred years, this 
perpetual round of devotion has continued. While 
empires have fallen, while arts, sciences, and civiliza- 
tion were passing through troubled periods toward 
a noble maturity, the rhythm of these chants — 
equally unintelligible to the people and to the ma- 
jority of the priests — has been supposed to propiti- 
ate the dread influences of mysterious elements. 
Ambitionless, spiritless, debasing, the teachings of 
Buddhism have given slip to the centuries, doing 



AN EXCURSION TO NARA. 



2JI 



but little to elevate humanity ; and now the light 
dawning from the east has startled the votaries at 
their shrines, and has roused them from their leth- 
argy. And the decayed leaves tangled amid the 
unkempt grass by the gales of autumn — silent wit- 
nesses of the neglect settling upon the place — sug- 
gest the decadence of the most ingenious religion 
ever invented by the human mind ; and whether 
our brain-proud philosophers are willing to admit 
the fact or not, yet the conclusion seems clear, that 
the tenets of Buddhism have been found insufficient 
to raise mankind to that high plane of morality and 
religious development to which the divine teachings 
revealed through the Redeemer have been able to 
raise the nations of Europe and America. 

Riding home in the night, chasing the village 
lights for hour after hour, I could not resist the 
dreamy influence of the sweet tones of the monas- 
tery bells that trembled across the rice-fields at 
regular intervals. Such melancholy melody! How 
solemn and subdued were their suggestions ! Life, 
they seemed to say, is undesirable ; existence is 
but a curse. Let us crush all our desires, all our 
passions, and all our impulses, until we have elimi- 
nated them. Then our being will be merged in 
the Infinite. We shall cease to have independent 
existence. We shall be Nirvana— annihilated ! 
Yours truly, 

Theophilus Pratt. 



LETTER XVI. 

FUJIYAMA. 

Kioto, September 27, 1877. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

In looking over my journal the other day, I 
came across the account of my trip up Fujiyama 
two years ago. As subjects for letters are now 
becoming rather scarce, I will send you a written- 
up account of it. Almost everybody writing about 
Japan has something to say about Fujiyama. 
This naturally makes the subject somewhat stale, 
nevertheless it is one that will stand much elabo- 
ration. 

Fujiyama is the center-piece of Japanese scenery. 
It is the first point of land that the approaching 
traveler sights as he comes bounding over the 
waves a hundred miles away. We spied its dim 
outlines at daybreak rising specter-like against the 
rosy tints that suffused the horizon. All day it 
loomed up before us ; its flattened crest and snow- 
ribbed cone towering superbly above the massive 
mountain ranges around its base. How the pas- 
sengers admired its magnificent proportions ! One 
of them, an Englishman, had climbed the stu- 
pendous cone and had slept upon the summit. 
How charmed we were with his description of 



FUJIYAMA. 2 73 

sunrise as seen from that summit, and of how 
the water froze there in midsummer ! I then 
resolved to climb the mountain on the first favor- 
able occasion. We gazed on its expanding outlines 
and changing phases with increasing admiration. 
When we passed between the headlands and 
steamed for hours up the bay, we found much 
else to take our notice ; yet we frequently turned 
our eyes Fuji-ward to admire its lovely propor- 
tions. As we lay at anchor at Yokohama, the 
clouds, like long banners, trailed midway from its 
sides, and the radiant lines of sunset formed a 
background of striking beauty. The lover of 
nature never forgets this first view of Fujiyama. 
Lovely Fuji ! Well art thou called the matchless 
one ! What wonder that the artists of the thir- 
teen provinces within sight of thy stately majesty 
make thee their inspiration ? 

In August, of 1875, I made my arrangements 
for climbing Fujiyama. My traveling companion, 
whom we will designate as Jack, was also a teacher 
in the government schools in Tokio. Naturally we 
made congenial companions. Our plan was to 
go to Kobe by steamer, and then to return over- 
land to Tokio by way of Kioto, and Fujiyama. 
We were going to climb up from the sea-shore 
and descend on the opposite side toward the 
Hakone range. 

Taking the steamer at Yokohama, we reached 
Kobe in a day and a half. Then we went by train to 
Osaca, where we tarried a couple of days " doing " 
18 



274 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

the place, as the " Globe Trotters " express it. Then 
we took a flat-bottomed river-boat and were poled 
and towed up the Kamogawa to Kioto, where we 
tarried ten days " doing" the city. Leaving Kioto, 
we traveled in jinriksJias along the Tokaido for 
nearly three hundred miles until we reached a 
village on the sea-coast near the base of Fuji- 
yama. Jack had already gone on ahead to meet 
some friends at Hakone, intending to return and 
meet me at the base of the mountain by the 
shore, but a violent typhoon was raging along 
the coast, so that I was detained here a couple 
of days. 

On the morning of the third day the storm had 
passed away and left the atmosphere beautifully 
clear. Being hidden behind a promontory, we 
were as yet unable to see Fuji. We now found 
ourselves unable to continue our journey by the 
Tokaido, as the torrents pouring from the moun- 
tains had swollen several brooks that ran across our 
road to such an extent that they were quite impass- 
able. We therefore took a fishing-boat and deter- 
mined to round the promontory and reach the base 
of the mountain by sea. Shipping our jinrikshas 
and luggage, we (the boy, the coolies, and myself) 
jumped into the boat, while a dozen fishermen put 
their shoulders to the prow, and we were launched 
with a shout into the foaming surf that came 
thundering in from the Pacific. The skillful 
scullers soon had us out into steadier water be- 
yond the danger of capsizing. 



FUJIYAMA. 275 

When we had rounded the promontory, Fuji in 
all his majesty stood before us. The air was so 
clear that it seemed as if we could see the very 
bowlders on the summit. There was nothing to 
distract the gaze, as the mountain stood quite alone, 
many miles from any range. It swept up directly 
from the shore. Nature was in her loveliest mood 
after the hurricane. The air was as clear as crystal, 
and the fields of waving grain and the woods and 
villages upon the majestic slopes of the mountain 
stood out as distinctly as possible. The morning 
sun bathed the rugged cone with purple tints of 
strange beauty. 

With one glance you saw the general features of 
the landscape ; directly before us lay the beach ; 
then came a belt of rice-fields ; then came villages, 
orchards, and wheat-fields stretching several miles 
up the gentle slopes ; then came a girdle of woods 
winding around the mountain about midway up, 
forming a vast band nearly ten miles wide ; finally 
came the cone of lava and cinders, forming a mas- 
sive cap fully four miles wide. The distance from 
shore to summit was nearly thirty miles. The 
altitude of the mountain is nearly thirteen thousand 
feet ; yet so clear was the air that the summit did 
not seem to be further off than two or three miles. 

The waves of the ocean were of a glorious blue. 
The bold promontories toward the north and to- 
ward the south plowed the deep half-way to the 
horizon, making an immense semicircular bay that 
bathed the base of the mountain with perpetual 



276 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

foam and spray. Lovely Fuji ! What wonder that 
the fisherman along the distant coast, as he sees thy 
ghostly form spread against the evening skies, ad- 
mires and adores thee ? What wonder that when 
thy brow is black with clouds that sink midway to 
the sea, — dread harbingers of the coming storm — 
he fears thee ? 

After sculling along the shore for some distance, 
we plunged through the surf, and shot high up on 
the beach. Crossing this, we found ourselves in 
rice-fields flooded with the recent rains. The cool- 
ies were frequently half-submerged. When we had 
floundered half-way across this uninteresting sec- 
tion of country, we spied Jack coming from the op- 
posite direction. His trowsers were slung over his 
shoulders, and he was wading along like a stork. 
Our meeting was cordial and informal. We spent 
the greater part of the morning in wading through 
this flooded district. We finally reached a village 
upon the slopes, where we changed our clothes and 
lunched. 

In the afternoon we journeyed several miles 
around the slopes in order to reach the path that 
led to the summit. This stretch of country between 
the mountain and the ocean was indescribably 
beautiful. Villages, shrines, orchards, gardens, and 
wheat-fields were spread over the gently undulating 
slopes in great profusion, and were wildly pictur- 
esque and charming. The circumference of the 
base of Fuji on this line around the slopes is sixty 
miles. It takes three days to make the journey, 



FUJIYAMA. 277 

which is one of the loveliest imaginable, as the 
scenery is perpetually changing with each spur that 
you round. 

Late in the afternoon we reached the path that 
led to the summit. We went up the slopes for a 
short distance and stopped for the night at a tem- 
ple that frequently was utilized for the accommo- 
dation of travelers. It would be difficult to find 
a more enchanting locality. Beauty was on every 
hand, — whether you watched the blue waves 
speckled with sails, or the villages nestled amid 
the groves and gardens, or the mists chasing the 
waving billows in the wheat-fields on the slopes 
overhead. And then the sunset bathing the land- 
scape, and the twilight tingeing the ravines and the 
woods with sable hues! How shall I describe all 
this ? 

At seven o'clock next morning we packed our 
few articles of luggage on the back of a mountain 
coolie, and, with our boy, started for the summit. 
We walked through ten miles of wheat-fields up 
a gradually ascending slope. The mists lay heavily 
along the mountain side, obscuring the view com- 
pletely ; but soon after we had started the air 
cleared, and the day became delightfully bright 
and pleasant. So clear was the atmosphere that it 
seemed as if we could have seen almost any object 
on the summit twenty miles distant, yet, at that 
very moment the cone was thronged with white- 
robed pilgrims quite invisible to us. 

By eleven oclock we had reached the woods. 



2J& LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

We followed the narrow path through them for 
six miles until we reached the barren cone. These 
woods are very dense. Were you to get lost in 
them you would have much difficulty in getting 
out again. A gentleman connected with a survey- 
ing party strayed into one of the ravines here 
and nearly perished of hunger before he could 
be found. The trees are pines, beeches, and bam- 
boos, all tangled up with vines and impenetrable 
underbrush. 

The ascent through the woods was so steep that 
we made frequent halts. The foliage completely 
obstructed our view during this portion of the 
journey. At the last resting-place on the verge 
of the woods we stopped for dinner, which con- 
sisted of boiled rice, sardines, crackers and tea. 
Here was a temple in honor of the gods that 
preside over the mountain. Precisely what the 
nature of these divinities may be is a matter of 
doubt to myself. Great phenomena in nature 
seem to be always connected in the human im- 
agination with mysterious powers. Starting with 
this as a basis, the Shinto priests feel themselves 
justified in trading on the situation by selling 
sacred trinkets to the pilgrims, and in setting up 
a huge contribution box in a conspicuous place 
for the offerings of the devotees. Religion and the 
" hat " seem to be correlatives even here. As July 
and August are the only months during the year 
in which Fuji can be safely scaled, the season for 
these priests is very short ; but, as many thou- 



FUJIYAMA. 279 

sands improve this opportunity to climb up, their 
business must declare steady and encouraging divi- 
dends. 

Up to this point in the ascent, people may be 
carried in kagos, or may ride on horseback ; but 
from this point upward everybody must walk. 
Arming ourselves with long, filleted staffs, pur- 
chased from the priests, we continued our journey 
and reached the cone at about two o'clock. The 
scene was immediately changed — not a bit of ver- 
dure lay before us — nothing but lava, rocks, and 
cinders. The temperature now became rapidly 
cold, and we were cautioned not to lose our 
breath lest we should have difficulty in regaining 
it in such rarefied atmosphere. 

The ascent now became incredibly steep. We 
took a zig-zag path up the cone, for it would 
have been impossible to have gone straight ahead 
without the assistance of ropes and ladders. Even 
then we found our faces almost touching the rocks 
in front of us as we climbed. We rested every 
five minutes or so, and it took four hours for us to 
scale this last stretch to the summit. How in the 
name of human endurance our coolie managed to 
carry sixty pounds of dead weight up this moun- 
tain is a matter of marvel. I presume it is merely 
a question of practice, but may Providence spare 
me from such practice ! 

From the edge of the woods to the summit, at 
intervals of half a mile, are eight resting-places. 
These are huts constructed of lava rocks, and 



280 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

roughly floored inside. When the terrible gales 
are sweeping the cone, it would be impossible 
for anything like a house to stand here. We 
rested at each hut, and made and drank some 
tea. We were informed that all the water on the 
cone was brought from the base of the moun- 
tain, as there were no springs or wells in this 
heap of cinders, and the snow in the ravines was 
inaccessible. This impressed us as rather strange.. 
The ravines did not seem so very difficult of access 
after all. I presume this was merely an excuse 
for selling the water and netting a handsome 
dividend. 

But what created a far more lively impression 
upon us was the host of fleas in all the huts. 
They swarmed ! Pilgrims from all parts of the 
empire, bringing every variety of species of these 
insolent parasites about their clothing, had pro- 
duced a cross-breed that possessed an energy and 
vivacity in their method of assaulting the person 
that were incredibly effective, and which cast quite 
in the shade all the efforts of their constituent 
ancestors. 

At five o'clock we reached the last hut just be- 
neath the summit. Here we took supper. As yet 
we had experienced no difficulty with our breathing. 
Here we had to submit to a bitter attack from our 
unrelenting enemies, the fleas. While we ate they 
did likewise, and theirs was certainly the heartier 
meal. Jack raved like a pirate. He scalded him- 
self with some hot tea, which he very naturally up- 



FUJIYAMA. 28l 

set during a frantic effort to reach the middle of 
his back before the enemy had left the scene. But 
we were comforted by the assurance that there were 
no fleas upon the summit, and that we would con- 
sequently have a refreshing night's rest. Up to 
this last hut these vile tormentors do not find the 
weather too severe for them to pursue their preda- 
tory habits, but upon the summit they are com- 
pelled to succumb to the cold. Upon that spot 
you stand in the only place in the empire where 
fleas do not exist. But fifteen minutes' climbing 
lifts you from torments to serene bliss. 

Leaving the eighth resting place at a quarter to 
six o'clock, we proceeded to climb the last stage of 
the ascent, which required about fifteen minutes of 
exceedingly steep and arduous work ; and at six 
o'clock we stood upon the summit. But what a 
summit it was! Totally different from our expec- 
tations. Seen from a distance, the top of Fujiyama 
seems to be perfectly flat. We had expected to 
find a sort of plateau with a kind of depression in 
the center caused by the crater. But we found 
the summit to be a rugged country. It was three 
miles in circumference, and was covered with lava 
hills, one of which was two hundred feet high at 
least. The crater was encircled by these hills, and 
was about two miles in circumference. It was not 
over two hundred feet deep and was entirely in- 
active. 

We found quite a village of huts built of lava 
rocks. Hundreds of pilgrims were occupying them. 



282 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

The proprietors of these quasi hotels bring every- 
thing up from the base of the mountain, and, from 
a native stand-point, keep a pretty fair larder. As 
a matter of course, everything is expensive. It 
costs fifty cents to pass the night on the summit. 
This is very fabulous indeed for people who can be 
accommodated at any of the ordinary hotels within 
the empire for only twelve cents per night including 
supper and breakfast. 

We found a corner of one of the huts unoccupied, 
and at once appropriated it to our own use. While 
the boy was preparing supper, we rambled over the 
hills and bowlders, viewing the matchless scenery. 
We found it necessary to wrap ourselves up warmly, 
as it was exceedingly cold. A scum of ice was 
already forming on the water in the pails. Al- 
though the atmosphere was very rare, yet we did 
not experience any difficulty with our respiratory 
organs. This was probably due to the fact that 
our lungs were very sound. 

The view from the summit of Fujiyama is mag- 
nificent beyond description. On one hand you 
have the Pacific Ocean, and on the other hand you 
have thirteen provinces of Nippon. You become 
dizzy as you gaze down the steep sides of the cone, 
over its sable girdle of woods, and upon the slopes 
at its base. It is terribly precipitous. You feel as 
if you could jump down upon the empire. Thou- 
sands of feet beneath you the clouds and the even- 
ing mists are beginning to gather around the 
mountain side. They mass themselves in huge 



FUJIYAMA. 283 

billows against the woods until it seems as if the 
ocean itself had risen upon the mountain; now the 
upward currents of air strike the clouds from below 
and they are tossed upward in huge columns like 
smoke arising from some vast battle-field, — and 
your view is again unobstructed. You see the 
grand mountain ranges of Hakone, colossal in 
themselves, lying like dwarfed hills beneath you, 
and stretching away until merged in the obscurity 
that veils the horizon. In their midst lies lovely 
Hakone Lake like a mirror in the hills. As far as 
you can see, to the east and to the south, are 
mountain ranges diversified with sweet valleys and 
lovely lakes. 

The setting sun tinges this landscape with somber 
hues, and the deepening shades of twilight steal- 
thily sweep the entire scene from your view. Hun- 
dreds of pilgrims are now standing around in many 
groups, chanting prayers, clapping their hands, and 
bowing their heads in reverence of the magnificent 
scene. Perhaps you imagine that they are worship- 
ing the setting sun. But they do not know them- 
selves what they are adoring. The beauty and 
the solemnity of the occasion would of themselves 
naturally call forth spontaneous expressions of 
superstitious admiration from simple-minded peas- 
ants. Here was the monster that, but a few years 
before, had sent forth a mighty stream of fire and 
smoke thousands of feet into the air. It covered 
the country with stones and ashes for nearly a hun- 
dred miles around. It roared, and thundered, and 



284 LET TERS FROM JAPAN. 

quaked. The surrounding country was terribly 
shaken. Yeddo was thrown to the ground, and 
was burnt up ; while over twenty thousand of its 
inhabitants were destroyed in the frightful disaster. 
Yet here lay the crater peaceful and harmless be- 
side us! Where had the terrible and mysterious 
power gone? What wonder that the untutored 
minds of the people were smitten with reverential 
awe when in the presence of such surroundings ? 
Here reposed serenely beneath their tread the crest 
that had beckoned the fleets of Perry and had 
guided the navies of the empire. 

We picked our way back to the hut and effect- 
ually demolished the supper prepared for us by 
the boy. Hiring several comforters from the land- 
lord, we burrowed beneath them and slept soundly 
enough. In the morning we rose to see sunrise. 
The scene differed totally from that of sunset. 
The billowy clouds lay banked from the base of 
the cone to the horizon in every direction, just as 
if the ocean had risen up during the night. We 
were several thousand feet above them in clear air. 
Suddenly the clouds parted about midway toward 
the eastern horizon and the rays of the glorious sun 
shot through into our upper atmosphere, suffus- 
ing the cone with a gauzy, tremulous light, exqui- 
sitely weird and fascinating. The clouds soon 
rolled away to the horizon and we had the heavenly 
panorama of the previous evening spread around 
us. 

In this rare atmosphere, the rays of the sun are 



FUJIYAMA, 285 

very powerful. While we kept within the shade, 
we were blue with cold ; yet when we allowed the 
sun to shine directly upon us, we could almost feel 
its rays blistering our skin. 

Breakfasting as well as we could with chattering 
teeth, we proceeded to descend the cone on the 
landward side toward Shubashiri, the town whence 
almost all foreigners start to climb up. We made 
the descent within four hours. We ran nearly all 
the way down. We rushed down the cone at a 
fearful rate, taking long jumps and landing knee- 
deep in cinders and ashes. Jack, in one of his fly- 
ing jumps went over a huge bowlder into a group 
of pilgrims climbing upward. How in the world 
he avoided killing or maiming some of them is a 
mystery to me. Two of them were knocked down 
outright. One of them picked himself up with a 
grunt and went on his way. The other one took 
to his heels in great terror at the strange apparition 
of a heavily bearded head, a long body, and a pair 
of mammoth boots, all clattering down the rocks 
without any apparent intelligence to guide their 
wild career. And he was in a fair way to beat the 
record down to Shubashiri when the shouts and 
laughter of his companions recalled him. Poor 
fellow ! He was as pale as death. He had never 
seen a foreigner before, and such an abrupt intro- 
duction rather unsettled his nerves. He did not 
show even a scratch, yet he had been thrown upon 
his back while his heels had been kicked into the 
air with such force that one of his sandals had been 



286 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

hurled into a neighboring ravine ! He said that the 
only thing that frightened him was the shaggy 
beard of the Ejinsan. He did not know what to 
make of it ; and as he was pressed for time for re- 
flection, he acted upon the impulse of the moment 
and made for home. 

The ascent of Fujiyama is by no means a dan- 
gerous or very difficult one. Provided sufficient 
time be taken, almost any one possessing average 
powers of endurance can scale it. Thousands of 
pilgrims climb up every year. Many of these are 
old men. Many of them are women. We saw an 
old woman on the summit, who was said to be 
eighty years of age. I have no reason to doubt 
that she was. 

Lunching at Shubashiri, we pushed on to Ha- 
kone in the afternoon, arriving there in the night. 
We stopped at a hotel on the border of the lake. 
Above the mountains encircling the opposite shore 
of the lake, rose the cone of Fuji, continually re- 
minding me during my stay at this delightful sum- 
mer resort, of one of the pleasantest trips I have 
ever made. Lovely Fuji ! Farewell ! 
Yours truly, 

Theophilus Pratt. 



LETTER XVII. 

THE SATSUMA REBELLION. 

Kioto, November I, 1877. 

Dear Julius Marcellus : 

The Satsuma Rebellion, which has been raging 
since the beginning of the year, is now ended. As 
the theater of war was limited to the Island of 
Kiushiu, we have seen nothing of it. Nor has it 
been an easy matter to collect reliable information, 
as the reticent government officials were the princi- 
pal reporters of the military operations. For eight 
terrible months the Imperial troops have been 
struggling with the rebels, shut in by the moun- 
tains and hemmed in by the sea, while we foreign- 
ers have been left to gather information as best we 
could. However, by means of the Yokohama news- 
papers, and by conversation with those returning 
from the scene of hostilities, I have been able to 
follow the course of affairs pretty well. 

This war was the dying struggle of Feudalism 
with Imperialism. It was a contest quite as mo- 
mentous to the destiny of the Japanese Empire 
as was, to us, our rebellion of 1861. The Imperial 
Government had long been expecting the outbreak, 
therefore they were to a certain extent prepared 



2 88 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

for it. Yet, as with us in our war, they did not 
anticipate so fearful a conflict. 

The soul of the rebellion was the elder Saigo. 
The Satsuma clan, of which he was a member, were 
the rebels. Saigo was the ideal of feudal chivalry. 
He was admired and feared, not only by his own 
clan, but by all Japanese. All that was brave, 
shrewd, and magnanimous, was attributed to him. 
He was the ideal samurai, — typical of all that was 
noble and grand in Japanese estimation. He was 
considered the ablest soldier in the empire. Dur- 
ing the war of the restoration, nine years ago, he 
led the Imperial forces against the Shogun, and 
vanquished him. As that war is but a prelude to 
the present conflict, I will briefly outline it here. 

At the commencement of that struggle, the em- 
peror was in the Gosho (Imperial castle in Kioto) 
under the surveillance of Tokugawa, who yet con- 
trolled the Imperial person. He filled the castle 
of Kioto with his retainers. Prestige rested on 
his banners. He was the authorized ruler of the 
empire. Those who disobeyed his orders were 
rebels and traitors. But his authority, while not 
yet openly defied, was barely tolerated by Satsuma, 
Tosa, and Choshiu. These mutinous and powerful 
clans were gathering their warriors around the 
Gosho ostensibly to present certain petitions to the 
emperor, but with the secret intention of wresting 
the Imperial person from the Shogun's grasp and 
making him the actual sovereign of the realm. Until 
they could accomplish this adroit diplomatic stroke 



THE SAT SUM A REBELLION. 289 

their status was that of rebels and traitors; but with 
the Imperial person in their possession, they could 
obtain a revocation of the Shogun's authority to 
rule the empire, and could strip him of all his emol- 
uments and power. Satsuma and his allies would 
then be the enforcers of the Imperial decrees ; 
while the Shogun and his allies would be rebels 
and traitors if they disobeyed the Imperial man- 
dates. 

For months the hostile clans were busily occu- 
pied in collecting their forces around Kioto. Aidzu 
and Tokugawa gathered theirs from the north ; and 
Tosa, Choshiu, and Satsuma hurried theirs up from 
the southwest. As yet there were no open hos- 
tilities, but the hostile retainers glared savagely at 
each other in the streets. It needed but a spark 
to kindle the flames of civil war. Saigo and Kirino 
were on hand fuming for a favorable opportunity 
to commence the strife, and the opportunity soon 
came. Kirino precipitated the conflict by expelling 
the Shogun's forces from the vicinity of the Gosho, 
and securing the " legal grip " of the emperors 
person. After a series of desperate encounters, the 
Imperialists drove the Shogun's forces south of 
Fusime toward Osaca. Here they rallied and were 
led back to Fusime, with heavy reinforcements, 
where they were met by Saigo's forces in the rice- 
fields. It is said that on this occasion Saigo, by 
superior strategy, defeated thirty thousand troops 
with only seven thousand men. The larger body 
of soldiers found it almost impossible to deploy 
19 



29O LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

in the slushy fields. Saigo therefore enveloped the 
heads of the long columns with nimble skirmishers 
that speedily dissolved the huge and unwieldy mas- 
ses into a routed rabble. 

The Shogun fled in wild disorder to Kobe, where 
he embarked for Yeddo on an American steamer, 
and, retiring to his castle at Shidzuoka, he took no 
further part in the contest. But his followers kept 
up the fight for a year. They were driven slowly 
northward into Yesso, where they were finally 
vanquished. The Province of Aidzu was terribly 
punished for its obstinate resistance. Sword and 
flame followed that hardy clan into its mountain 
home in the north, and reaped a fearful harvest 
among the peaceful villages and hamlets of that 
grandly mountainous Daimiate. 

At the close of hostilities, Saigo, instead of in- 
dulging in promiscuous proscription of the hostile 
leaders, magnanimously pardoned them. This act 
endeared him greatly to the people, and made him 
the most popular man in the empire. 

Satsuma now became the Imperial pet. Favors 
without number were showered upon that war- 
like clan. Saigo was made generalissimo of the 
Imperial forces. The highest offices in the realm 
w r ere filled by Satsuma men. It seemed as if 
too much could not be done for this clan. Its 
slightest frown would apparently fill the Imperial 
bosom with great solicitude, and the will of Saigo 
became law. His family was exalted ; his friends 
commanded the finest appointments at the empe- 



THE SAT SUM A REBELLION. 29 1 

ror's disposal ; the army, the navy, and the civil 
service were filled with Satsuma men. 

At the same time it must be conceded that the 
Satsuma men were exceedingly brave and capable. 
Years of independence had developed in them ex- 
ecutive abilities not attained by less favored clans 
that had been subjected to the immediate control 
of the hectoring Shogun. The Satsuma samurai 
were certainly clever, daring, and hospitable. At 
the outbreak of hostilities, Satsuma was generally 
conceded to be more than a match for any clan 
in the empire. And, by the close of the war, 
the ardent members of that clan began to consider 
themselves a match for the empire itself. 

The bestowal of so much honor upon Satsuma 
naturally excited the jealousy of other clans by no 
means deficient in able men. As the government 
became firmer, this monopoly of Satsuma began to 
be abridged, and men from other clans were also fa- 
vored with honors. And it soon became apparent 
that the power of Satsuma had ceased to be om- 
nipotent. Although the members of that warlike 
clan did not exactly relish this state of affairs, yet 
they possessed too much good sense to take as yet 
any serious offense at the way the tide was turning. 
When the government, in 1870, abolished feudal- 
ism, and dispossessed the Daimios of their Daimi- 
ates, Satsuma obediently fell into line and supported 
the new regime. During the rebellions in Saga and 
in Choshiu, the allegiance of Satsuma remained 
unshaken. 



292 LET TERS FROM JAPAN. 

But at last the conservative spirits of Satsuma 
became discontented. They stood aghast at the 
rapid strides civilization was making. They saw 
feudalism and old Japan drifting hopelessly out of 
sight. Truly the old days were never to return ! 
The privileges of the samurai were being curtailed. 
Centralization had set toward the Tokio Govern- 
ment, and in a few years the glory of Satsuma would 
be merged in the empire, — its resplendent individu- 
ality would be a matter of history. Deep and omi- 
nous mutterings were heard. For two years before 
the actual commencement of hostilities, it was evi- 
dent that a tremendous conflict was brewing be- 
tween the conservative and the liberal elements in 
Japan. Nevertheless the government steadily pur- 
sued its policy of introducing whatever it found 
worth imitating in the customs of foreign countries 
into the political and social fabric of the new Japan. 

At last the great Saigo grew sullen. He with- 
drew from Tokio and went to Kagoshima, the capi- 
tal of Satsuma. To a great extent this province 
was quite independent of the government in the 
management of its internal affairs. Thither flocked 
the dissatisfied Satsuma men. The locality was emi- 
nently adapted as a place for brewing sedition, as 
it was perfectly free from government surveillance, 
and by the beginning of this year Saigo and Sat- 
suma were in full revolt. 

It was fortunate for the government that all the 
leading men of Satsuma did not go into revolt. It 
was a noticeable fact that those who had been 



THE SATSUMA REBELLION. 293 

abroad and had obtained liberal ideas were loyal to 
the emperor. The younger Saigo remained stead- 
fast in his allegiance. So did Okubo, the Minister 
of War. But, above all, the navy, filled with Sat- 
suma men, and commanded by a Satsuma man, re- 
mained faithful. Had the fleet not prevented the 
rebels from reaching the mainland, the issue of the 
conflict would have indeed been doubtful. Had 
Saigo been able to hurl twenty-five thousand men 
upon Kioto or Tokio, it would have been a black 
day for the government. With the navy at his dis- 
posal, the empire would have been at his merey. 

Great was the terror throughout the empire when 
it became known that Satsuma and the great Saigo 
had rebelled against the government. The very 
name of Saigo was a tower of strength to the cause 
that he advocated. His personal magnetism and 
popularity were unbounded. The government 
feared Satsuma less than they did that one man. I 
was in Tokio at the outbreak of the war, and can 
well remember the fear that pervaded all classes. 
Many feared that Saigo would appear in Tokio in 
a few days, leading on his fierce followers to plunder 
and proscription. The emperor and his court 
hastily went to Kioto, and awaited there the issue 
of the conflict. The wildest stories were afloat. It 
was reported that the frogs on the western shore of 
some pond had been engaged in warfare with the 
frogs on the eastern shore of the pond, and had 
vanquished them after a long struggle. " Ah ! " 
said the superstitious ones, " the sword-hilt is in the 



294 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

West and the chrysanthemum is in the East." 
Some one said that the heimin, or common people, 
composing a large part of the Imperial forces, would 
never be able to face the samurai of Satsuma, — 
that one samurai would put five heimin to flight ; 
and as the troops marched through Tokio on their 
way south they were the recipients of pitying com- 
ments signifying that they were but so much meat 
for Saigo's swords. 

It was now time for the men of Aidzu to have 
their revenge on Satsuma. They eagerly volun- 
teered their services and flocked to the death- 
grapple with their ancient enemies. Many wild 
young samurai of other clans also enlisted from 
mere love of fighting, and many others went in 
on principles of general hatred for Satsuma. These 
fierce warriors, trained from boyhood to the expert 
use of the formidable double-handed swords, were 
valuable auxiliaries to the government in the moun- 
tains and ravines of Kiushiu, where hand-to-hand 
conflicts were fierce and frequent. 

Early in January Saigo took the initiative. De- 
spairing of winning over the navy, he marched his 
troops northward into the Province of Higo. I 
presume that his precise plans will never be known. 
Some say that his object was to conquer the Island 
of Kiushiu and proclaim it an independent repub- 
lic ; others said that he intended to march rapidly 
to the Shimonoseki Straits and cross over to the 
mainland before the fleet could intercept him ; 
once on the mainland, and his prospects were flat- 



THE SAT SUM A REBELLION. 295 

tering of raising the entire country in revolt and of 
working his way to Kioto and Tokio with ranks 
ever swelling with malcontents ; while others said 
that he was short in his supply of arms and ammu- 
nition and desired to equip his forces at the maga- 
zines in Kumamoto Castle in the northern part of 
Higo, about seventy miles north of Kagoshima. 

I think the last theory is not improbable. And 
it is quite likely that after overrunning Kiushiu 
they would have declared an independent form of 
government of some description, with Saigo at its 
head. Could they but capture the castle with 
a bold dash they would start with grand prestige, 
and would also have a stronghold in a wild and 
mountainous country from which to operate upon 
any part of Kiushiu. The troops were consequently 
hurried forward with great speed. Although it 
was midwinter, yet the roads of that country were 
entirely free from snow. The winters of southern 
Japan are lovely beyond description. 

Satsuma was reputed to be able to muster sixty 
thousand warriors; Saigo's forces, however, did 
not exceed twenty thousand men, so far as I can 
ascertain. Kumamoto Castle was garrisoned by 
about three thousand troops, and it was well sup- 
plied with military stores. Strategically consid- 
ered, the point was of vast importance ; for until 
the place had been captured no army from Sat- 
suma could get to Shimonoseki Straits, or operate 
elsewhere upon the island with any degree of suc- 
cess. The Imperial Government was well aware 



296 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

of this fact and had evidently well prepared the 
place for a violent attack. 

Saigo's men were but partly armed with rifles. 
The most of them were equipped with the keen 
double-handed swords of feudal times, and with 
daggers and spears. It seemed to be their opinion 
that patrician samurai could rush into close quar- 
ters with the heintin and easily rout them — grant- 
ing even that they were armed with rifles and bay- 
onets. And it was reported that the astute Saigo 
ordered his soldiers not to kill the poor plebs 
in the government ranks, but rather to slash them 
well about the legs so as to disable them and ren- 
der it necessary for each man thus wounded to be 
borne off the field by two able-bodied comrades — 
thus depriving the opposing ranks of three soldiers 
instead of one. This policy argued to the native 
mind a keen insight into the military qualities of 
the heimin. 

There can be no doubt, however, that Saigo led 
up against Kumamoto from 15,000 to 20,000 as 
brave and desperate men as Japan could furnish, 
and, as for that matter, as formidable an array as 
any troops would care to face. Upon their ban- 
ners was inscribed the suggestive motto, " If we 
conquer, we are Imperialists ; but if we are van- 
quished, then are we rebels." In Japan, even, success 
constitutes the difference between patriots and 
traitors. 

As everything depended upon celerity of action, 
Saigo hurled his forces fiercely upon Kumamoto. 



THE SAT SUM A REBELLION. 2Q)J 

The town and the suburbs were speedily reduced to 
ashes, but the troops within the castle repelled all 
assaults with the most unexpected bravery, pug- 
nacity, and skill. They fought magnificently. In 
the first place, they were well protected by massive 
walls and towers from which they could use their 
deadly rifles with terrible effect upon the ranks be- 
neath, and in the second place, they were officered 
by brave and skillful samurai, who filled them with 
courage and pugnacity by their example. Upon 
their stubborn resistance hung the issue of the war. 
In vain did Saigo clamor at the gates and hurl his 
legions against the walls. His slaughtered warriors 
filled the moats and ravines to no purpose. It 
must have been with boundless chagrin that he 
found himself compelled to settle down to a long 
siege of this impregnable place. His only hope 
was either to take the garrison by surprise, or to 
starve them out. On several occasions his soldiers 
endeavored to scale the ramparts at night, when 
the absence of daylight would render the rifles less 
deadly until close quarters had been reached, when 
they hoped to sweep away the hostile plebs with 
a few cuts with their blades. But every assault 
failed. The garrison was always on the qui vive, 
and it was found that swords and bayonets were 
not wanting skillful hands to ply them within the 
Imperial ranks when it came to a question of close 
quarters. 

On one occasion, two hundred of the most des- 
perate of Saigo's men pledged themselves to either 



298 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

make a lodgment within the castle or to perish in 
the attempt. They chose a dark and stormy night 
for the desperate venture. Stripping off their 
clothes, and taking their swords in their hands, they 
crept through the gloom toward the fatal moat. 
None of them ever came back ; and, next morning, 
the Imperial banners, floating defiantly above the 
turrets, seemed to invite other bands of fanatics to 
enter the slaughter pen and be butchered with rifle, 
revolver, bayonet, and sword. 

Every day spent in besieging the castle lessened 
Saigo's chances of success in his enterprise. The 
government forces were being hurried from all 
parts of the empire, and were rapidly closing in 
around Kumamoto. 

Saigo found that he would soon be environed by 
the Imperial troops. He decided to turn upon 
them and rout them before they had quite hemmed 
him in. Leaving a small force to watch the castle, 
he marched to the northward to meet the advanc- 
ing forces. He came in collision with them among 
some mountains and rice-fields. A series of terrible 
conflicts ensued. The Imperial troops found great 
difficulty in deploying in the soft mud and narrow 
ravines. Before they had forced their way through 
this section of the country they had suffered heavy 
losses. They were constantly exposed to the at- 
tacks of nimble bands of samurai springing from 
every spot suitable for ambush. Hurling them- 
selves madly against the troops, they often created 
sad havoc with their swords among the disordered 



THE SAT SUM A REBELLION. 299 

crowds weakened by toilsome marching through a 
broken country. It is said that in the earlier en- 
counters the Imperial troops were badly decimated 
by these sudden onslaughts, and it is not to be won- 
dered at, for these expert swordsmen can make a 
bad mess in a confused crowd. 

When Sir Harry Parkes visited the emperor at 
Kioto several years ago, his twelve dragoons, armed 
with lances, sabres, and revolvers, were attacked by 
two fanatics who suddenly sprang upon them from 
an alley. So quick were they in their movements 
that nine of the men were disabled with frightful 
gashes in an incredibly short space of time. The 
fanatics would have escaped without a scratch had 
they not been cut down by a couple of Japanese 
accompanying the body-guard. 

But while the Imperialists lost heavily, the rebels 
also suffered severely. They found that the heimin 
possessed much obstinate pugnacity, even if they 
did not possess the dashing bravery of the samurai. 
In addition to all this, the Imperial forces were 
being constantly reinforced, while Saigo found it 
almost impossible to raise recruits just as soon as it 
became manifest that he was playing a losing game. 
He soon found himself facing overwhelming num- 
bers. After several weeks of hard fighting, the 
rebels were forced back upon their lines at Kuma- 
moto. They found themselves in a state of siege. 
For many weeks they kept up the unequal contest 
from behind their breastworks and trenches. The 
Imperialists held them there at bay while they 



300 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

sent troops into their rear to cut off their supplies. 
And, to make matters yet more hopeless, Saigo 
now found his supply of ammunition nearly ex- 
hausted. His hopes of success were completely 
blasted, yet he determined to continue the struggle. 

Finding himself nearly surrounded, he raised the 
siege of Kumamoto Castle, and betook himself 
with his remaining followers to the most moun- 
tainous and inaccessible parts of Kiushiu, and there 
kept up an annoying guerrilla warfare for many 
months. At last his indomitable energy seemed to 
weary of the useless contest. Every hope was ex- 
tinguished. He resolved to lead his followers back 
to Kagoshima and die in a last desperate struggle 
at home. Breaking away from his pursuers, who 
had chased him from place to place with the great- 
est persistency, he passed rapidly into Satsuma, in 
the vicinity of Kagoshima, upon which he des- 
cended like an avalanche, driving out the few sol- 
diers that the government had left there. The 
astonished Imperialists, however, speedily recovered 
from the bewilderment produced by this sudden 
onset, and speedily collected thirty thousand troops 
around the unhappy rebels. 

Then came the closing scene. A friend of mine, 
who was in command of one of the steamers in the 
harbor, gave me a full account of it. "The Im- 
perial forces," said he, " numbered fully thirty 
thousand men. The rebel army had dwindled 
down to six hundred men. They were intrenched 
upon a hill-side in the immediate vicinity of the 



THE SAT SUM A REBELLION. 



3d 



town. At daybreak I was awaked by some heavy 
rifle firing, and was told that Saigo was being 
routed out of his den on the hill-side. Climbing the 
mast, I could see large detachments of government 
troops busily at work. With my glasses, I could 
see bodies of men (rebels I presume) scampering 
over the hill in all directions. They were evidently 
entirely without ammunition, and were being butch- 
ered mercilessly by the troops, who could shoot 
them down at a distance with rare impunity. 
Within an hour, everything was over. When 
things had quieted down, I went ashore with a 
Japanese officer to see what we could. 

" Everything seemed quiet and orderly. The sol- 
diers were demurely standing by their arms in line 
of battle. There were fully thirty thousand of 
them, all armed with rifles. They completely sur- 
rounded the hill upon which Saigo had been in- 
trenched. In many places they had constructed 
bamboo fences around the hill — so much did they 
fear that this terrible Saigo would again break 
through and escape. But he and his chiefs all lay 
dead upon the hill. We passed through the lines, 
and went to where they were all laid out in a row. 
They had evidently committed suicide. Saigo had 
performed the hara-kiri. A friend had then cut off 
his head and was running away with it when inter- 
cepted. His body was a large and fine one. Upon 
the breast stood the gory head of its unfortunate 
possessor. We stood for quite a while watching 
the crowds of Imperial officers that came up. This 



302 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

man had been their commander-in-chief for many 
years, and the old feeling of respect and admiration 
for him was yet uppermost in their minds. As 
each one recognized the features of Saigo in the 
ghastly scene before him, he instinctively saluted 
the corpse by touching his cap. They conversed 
in subdued tones, and seemed to be sincerely sorry 
that it had been necessary to sacrifice so fine a 
man." 

And so ended the Satsuma Rebellion. It cost 
the government upward of fifteen million dollars 
to quell it. To us this sum seems small enough, but 
it is a very heavy load for Japan, I can assure you. 
It was a cause of grim satisfaction to the rebels 
that they had at least inflicted heavy losses on 
their enemies. The government lost upward of 
fifteen thousand men in battle ; which, con- 
sidering that they had only about forty thousand 
men in the field, is a tremendous percentage. But 
the benefits resulting from the war will be substan- 
tial and far-reaching. The government can now 
exercise control over the internal affairs of Satsuma, 
and that spirited little province will cease to be a 
hot-bed of sedition. The Japanese Empire is now 
an established fact. 

Yours truly, 

Theophilus Pratt. 




RUINS OF THE CITADEL OF AIDZU CASTLE, 

(Native Photograph.) 



LETTER XVIII. 

HIYEISAN. 

Kioto, November 10, 1877. 

Dear Julius Marcellus : 

One of the most enjoyable excursions in the 
vicinity of Kioto is the trip to the summit of 
Hiyeisan, a mountain of almost solid granitic for- 
mation, situated about eight miles north-east of the 
city and overlooking Lake Bivva from an altitude 
of nearly five thousand feet. It was the seat of 
one of the finest Buddhist monasteries in Japan. 
Its priesthood contained over five thousand mem- 
bers. They owned the entire mountain and much 
of the territory around its base. At one time they 
are said to have levied tribute from some of the 
adjoining provinces. In those days of their 
power they bade defiance from their rocky eyrie 
to the Shoguns themselves. But about three- 
hundred years ago they were totally vanquished 
by Nobunaga, the Shogun preceding Hideyoshi. 
Since that time, repeated humiliations have crushed 
their towering ambition. Their monastery is now 
almost deserted : but its surroundings and its his- 
tory are nevertheless exceedingly interesting. I 



304 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

will, in connection with a description of the monas- 
tery, take this occasion to give you a few observa- 
tions upon Buddhism, derived from several years 
of careful observation and eager research. 

Leaving my house after breakfast, accompanied 
by the boy, who carried our lunch in a basket, we 
walked through several miles of fields and gardens 
until we came to the hills at the base of the moun- 
tain. The intervening country was beautiful. As 
we rose above the foot-hills and surrounding moun- 
tains, we obtained a view of the Yamashiro Val- 
ley, that was lovely beyond description. Kioto, 
embowered in groves and gardens, lay far beneath 
us beside the glittering shoals of the Kamogawa. 
There lay the religious heart of the empire, sur- 
rounded by its temples and shrines. The road up 
the mountain was well shaded and plentifully sup- 
plied w r ith delightful springs of water bubbling up 
from numerous granite basins. 

The scenery from every point was superb. The 
slopes were deeply wooded and formed safe retreats 
for wild deer and boars ; and the glorious pheasants, 
startled by our footsteps, whirred past us ever and 
anon. 

Just before reaching the monastery, we had a 
view of Lake Biwa, that was surpassingly lovely. 
This lake is lovelier than Lake George ; and it is 
nearly twice as large. The scenery around its 
shores is far grander. The lake, with its inclosing 
mountains, forms a huge basin constituting Omi 
Province. The blue water lies beneath us, bearing 



HIYEISAN. 305 

on its bosom boats and steamers. Spread around 
the shores are lovely green fields and villages. I 
have seen grander scenery in Japan, but there is 
none more beautiful than the glimpses of Lake 
Biwa as seen through the trees from the sides of 
Hiyeisan. 

Turning a sharp bend in the road, we come in 
view of the monastery in the forests of magnificent 
cryptomeria among whose topmost branches the 
roofs may be seen like dovecotes in the trees. 
Although the mountain was an inexhaustible quarry 
of granite, yet the builders of the temples never 
used a bit of stone in their buildings. Everything 
was made of wood. In the old days the monastery 
had scores of huge temples all through these superb 
groves up here within this lovely vale, and within 
half an hour's climb of the summit, and shrines 
innumerable were scattered along the roadside 
away down to the foot-hills. 

The monastery, in the days of its prosperity, 
was indeed a magnificent institution. From it, as a 
center, roads branched out into all the provinces 
around the base of the mountain. The abbot 
claimed the entire mountain and liberal slices of 
adjoining territory. His shaven emissaries made 
regular circuits of his little realm, collecting the 
revenues and superintending matters generally. 
He was a great power in the land, not only dictating 
terms to the neighboring Daimios, but frequently 
waging successful war against them. The abbot 
had a very elastic title. The legends report that 
20 



306 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

an ancient monk requested from the authorities 
some land upon the mountain, whereon to build a 
shrine in honor of Shaka (Buddha). He desired as 
much land as his mat would cover. This apparently 
modest request was readily granted. Whereupon 
the mat, upon which the monk was sitting, began 
to spread out in every direction, by means of super- 
natural influences, until it had covered the entire 
mountain, thus securing by this pious fraud an 
immense piece of territory. Should this abstract 
of title fail to convince the incredulous, the legen- 
dary archives furnish another title, to the effect 
that the monk was decreed as much land as he 
could reach with his staff while he stood still. 
Whereupon the stick began to lengthen until it 
reached the foot-hills, thus including the mountain 
within its scope. Should either of these claims 
fail to convince, I doubt not but what the incredu- 
lous will find an inexhaustible supply of titles within 
the monastic archives from which to choose. 

Centuries ago, when the monastery was founded, 
the mountain was wild and rugged enough. Pine, 
oak, beech, kayaki (the finest hard wood in Japan), 
maple, and bamboo trees covered the slopes and 
cliffs, while impenetrable underbrush filled the rav- 
ines. Monkeys filled the forests, and wild boars, deer, 
bears, and panthers rendered the place a grand hunt- 
ing-ground for valorous Daimios from the adjoin- 
ing provinces. It was truly a wild and magnificent 
country. But in the course of years the undergrowth 
was cleared away from the vicinity of the monastery, 



HIYEISAN. 307 

and thousands of cryptomeria were planted there, 
which in a few years embowered the whole vale and 
plateau in their cool embrace. Roads were laid 
out through the forests on all sides. They wound 
around the spurs, zigzagged down the slopes, and 
hugged the edges of the ravines, until they emerged 
into the green fields. The waters of the delicious 
springs that had erstwhile trickled through the 
rocks into the brooks gushing from the mountain 
side, were zealously captured and imprisoned for 
awhile within the stone fountains by the roadside, 
where the weary pilgrims could drink of them and 
be refreshed. Eligible localities were selected for 
booths, where the travelers could with a glance 
take in the Eden-like beauties of Yamashiro, or the 
sparkling glories of Omi clasped with emerald fields 
and sunk thousands of feet within the rugged 
mountains. From these eyries you can view with 
solemn feelings the majesty of the parting day as 
the shadows, lingering upon the mountain sides, 
stealthily creep over the fields upon the blue waves 
beneath, where scudding boats are flying homeward 
on bended wings. Here the moonlight and the 
zephyrs, sporting with the somber hues of night, 
seem to tremble at the mellow notes of the match- 
less bells tolling in the belfries of the monastery. 
Here the tired pilgrim can drink in the beauties of 
nature, while his nerves, cooled by the delicious 
water and the fragrant winds, are eminently suscep- 
tible to the sublime influences and the grand inspira- 
tions of the surroundings. Three times have I 



308 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

climbed Hiyeisan, and yet do not find myself tired 
of its scenery. 

The fame and popularity of the monastery spread 
through the entire country. Thousands of pil- 
grims enriched its coffers with their contributions. 
Princes were votaries at its shrines, being desirous 
of propitiating the unseen powers of this world and 
those of the next — whatever they might be. New 
temples of vast proportions and elegant design 
were put up. Innumerable shrines for the propitia- 
ting of every conceivable influence in the Buddhist 
calendar were scattered everywhere, so that the 
throngs could take measures to ward off all imagin- 
able ills that might be lying in ambush against them. 
The simple quarters of the primitive anchorites de- 
veloped into luxurious and commodious establish- 
ments. The clothing of the monks became elegant, 
and the food became rich. Sake became a common 
beverage. The fatted fellows too often spent their 
evenings in drunken stupor instead of religious 
meditation. The strict vegetarian diet of their 
sect was discarded, and flesh, fish, and fowl were 
abundantly partaken of to the great scandal of 
the orthodox brethren, who abstained from eating 
anything that had been animated with the breath 
of life. In those bacchanalian times, you doubtless 
would have seen the bald-headed monks sallying 
forth to hunt the beasts upon the mountain with 
spears and arrows. Ah ! those were indeed roar- 
ing times, Julius Marcellus. 

Nor were these fatted monks satisfied with hav- 



HIYEISAN. 



309 



ing the monopoly of things spiritual, but they must 
needs dabble in things temporal. After centuries 
of uncurbed indulgence, their soaring pride and 
vaunting arrogance induced them to dictate in mat- 
ters relating to the State. Now, if there is any 
point upon which the Japanese temporal authori- 
ties are sensitive it is upon the question of their 
prerogatives. Touch them there, and they blaze 
with fury. Dare to question their authority over 
the people, and you excite the fiercest and bitterest 
passions in their natures. The bellicose brethren 
of Hiyeisan might have gone on for ages whacking 
each other's shins, and fetching the gore from each 
other's shining pates, until every nerve in their 
bodies jumped with anguish, while practicing the 
intricacies of the fencing art with heavy bamboo 
foils — nay, more, they might have exercised acts of 
summary justice within their own domains to a lim- 
ited extent without being interfered with. But when 
they began to meddle in the general politics of the 
neighboring regions and to fling their formidable 
semi-spiritual and semi-military organization into 
the balance, then was reached a point of audacity 
that could not be tolerated by the ruling powers. 
A wild and horrible contest ensued. Terrible 
battles were fought. The fierce monks were forced 
back from point to point. They were slowly pushed 
into the ravines and up the slopes of Hiyeisan, stub- 
bornly contesting every vantage ground. Finally 
they were shut within the walls of their monastery, 
where they were well-nigh annihilated ; and the 



3 1 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

magnificent monastery was razed to the ground. 
All the superb temples with their gorgeous para- 
phernalia were swept out of existence. Desolation 
marked the place for years. 

After the assassination of the terrible Nobunaga, 
those monks that had escaped the sword timidly 
came back to their mountain home and began to 
build again. In a few years the ancient glories 
of the place began to revive ; but the monastery 
never again attained its former magnificence. The 
buildings, though grand, were not as magnificent 
as those of yore. The monks were never as numer- 
ous as in old times; nor did they develop the mili- 
tary traits that characterized them before their 
fearful humiliation and decimation. The place, 
however, soon became a great Buddhist monastery, 
and a popular resort for pilgrims. 

But the monastery of to-day is almost deserted. 
Since the disestablishment of the Buddhist religion 
as a state religion, the funds have been cut off; and 
the revenues collected from the pilgrims during the 
summer are insufficient to keep up the establish- 
ment. While many pilgrims may visit the shrines, 
yet, being but poor peasants, but little money is 
dropped into the coffers by them. The monastery 
always depended for its chief support upon dona- 
tions from the wealthy classes, who now have cast 
aside their ancient creeds and stand forth as arrant 
atheists. But even the present temples are worth 
inspecting. Although not so exquisite as those of 
Nikko, nor so majestic as those of Kioto, yet they 



HIYEISAN. 3II 

are splendid specimens of native architecture, and 
the grounds of the monastery are lovely even in 
their unkept condition. From many parts of the 
place you can peep through the trees upon the 
blue waters of Lake Biwa, — a scene in itself suffi- 
cient to repay you for the exertions of the journey ; 
and if you will go beyond the monastery and 
climb the summit behind it, you will obtain a 
splendid view of the surrounding country, extend- 
ing as far as Osaca Bay on the south (which may 
be seen on a clear day), and as far as the mountains 
of Echizen on the north ; while to the east and 
west endless mountain ranges stretch toward the 
horizon. 

The Buddhists are the champion monastery 
builders of the world. In the rugged mountains 
of Thibet, in Ceylon, in the islands south of Asia, 
in the vast provinces of China, and in Japan, you 
will find these stately and elaborate institutions 
wherever an exceptionally lovely locality is to be 
found. Many centuries ago have these nature- 
loving anchorites pre-empted all the choice spots. 
And it must be conceded that they have rendered 
great service to mankind by beautifying spots and 
localities that otherwise would have remained wild 
fastnesses, and by cultivating the aesthetic part of 
human nature, by holding Nature herself in her 
loveliest moods before its gaze. Who can doubt 
that the thousands of peasants, who have left the 
slime of their native fields and the miasmas of their 
filthy villages, and have visited these cool retreats 



312 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

in clean vesture for a few days during the sultry 
summer, go back to their drudgery with more 
cheerful minds and with a few fresh ideas about 
the lovely world beyond the borders of their 
wretched hamlets? 

Love for nature is one of the characteristic ideas 
of Buddhism. Shaka himself was powerfully in- 
fluenced by it. The son of a king, brought up amid 
luxury and refinement, possessing a sensitive and 
sympathetic nature, and gifted with a keen and 
philosophic mind rarely found in one of his rank, 
he is suddenly brought in repulsive contact with 
human misery. The reaction upon his nature was 
intense. It produced melancholy meditation and a 
violent distaste for the garish frivolities of the sen- 
suous court in which he had been brought up. 
Meditation begat a thirst for further facts relating to 
the affairs of human life. He flies from the court 
and its hateful associations. He wanders about 
among men, and becomes familiar with the details 
of human life. With his mind well stored with ac- 
curate facts, and with his heart sickened with scenes 
of cruelty and misery, he left the society of men 
and fled to the solitudes of nature, hoping there to 
generalize upon the facts he had collected, and to 
evolve some supreme principle, some great and 
general law that should regulate human passions 
and cruelty, and thus lessen the terrible misery of 
mankind that he saw prevailing everywhere. 

After years of profound thought, he -evolved the 
grand idea that if men would be merciful to all liv- 



HI Y EI SAN. 313 

ing creatures, then the suffering in this world would 
be greatly reduced. Carrying out this idea into 
practice, he formed a law to the effect that no creat- 
ure animated with life should be killed. This, he 
thought, would prevent homicide and the needless 
slaying of dumb creatures. Evolving yet further 
from his soulful meditations, he conceived the idea 
that for man to live above the miseries of this life 
and to obtain an exemption from miseries hereafter, 
it was necessary for him to eliminate from his mind 
all thoughts and desires whatsoever, to make his 
mind a void and keep it in that condition until utter 
mental abstraction had been attained. Then, in the 
course of years, when the body died, the mind 
would merge into nothingness, — the original con- 
dition of the universe, according to his ideas, — and 
the human desires and passions, which were mere ac- 
cidents of matter clogging the mind, would be anni- 
hilated. And the mind would also be annihilated, 
for Nirvana means nothing else. 

In accordance with this theory, he enunciated 
the dogma that this utter mental abstraction could 
be attained before death, and whoever attained 
it thus during life, would become Nirvana at death. 
But that if any one neglected to attain this mental 
abstraction before death, then his desires and pas- 
sions would still hold his mind captive and would 
force it into new forms of existence ; would pass 
it through ceaseless existence for cycles of time 
until it had again become endowed with the human 
body, when it would have another chance for Nir- 



314 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

vana ; which, if it again neglected to attain, it would 
again be whirled through the ceaseless miseries of 
mundane existence. In other words, existence is a 
curse. Cease to exist, become Nirvana, and you 
will be freed from everything. 

The first proposition was better adapted to the 
people. Hence we find them respecting animals 
and treating them considerately. Although, as a 
matter of course, some of them were killed for 
food, yet, the effect of centuries of teaching was, 
to make the people of Burmah, China, and Japan, 
to a large extent, vegetarians. This accounts for 
the rice diet, perhaps. It has also made them mild 
in disposition. 

The second part of the proposition could not, of 

course, be fully comprehended or practiced by the 

masses of the people. It was a theory brooded 

upon by the monks alone. And even among them 

it was a rare thing to see a monk endeavoring to 

attain Nirvana. It was a mysterious doctrine that 

but few of them tried to put into practice. But 

should any of them ever feel disposed to put the 

theory into practice, there was always the dark room 

reserved for him in some secluded part of the 

monastery where he could immure himself. The 

natural result of trying to banish earthly cares 

from their thoughts, led the monks to seek retired 

localities among the mountains congenial to such 

an existence. This led to a romantic and beautiful 

system of monastery life, which was probably copied 

by the Romish Church and introduced into Europe. 



HIYEISAN. 315 

The monastic life in Japan, during the days when 
Buddhism was the state religion, must have been 
charming and romantic. Embowered among the 
grand mountains of the empire, they were secluded 
from the world, and yet exercised great influence 
upon it. The faith was introduced from Corea and 
China fully fourteen centuries ago, possibly earlier. 
It found the people to be amiable barbarians well- 
disposed to supplement their vague pastoral re- 
ligion (Shintoism) with something more substantial. 
Sites for temples and monasteries were speedily 
selected. And in a few years, or centuries, rather, 
a superb system of monasteries filled the empire 
with unsurpassed beauty. Magnificent groves en- 
vironed them. Cooling streams bubbled through 
their spacious grounds. The deep shade and silence 
of their superb forests of cryptomeria, that clothed 
the mountains with stately grandeur, called up the 
pensive moods of millions of pilgrims during many 
centuries. All the surroundings of these grand 
institutions, — the icy streams pouring from mess- 
covered basins, the sweet shade, the bracing air, the 
melancholy solitude, — all brought man into com- 
munion with nature that could not fail to benefit 
him. 

Here lived the monks for centuries, high up in 
the exhilarating atmosphere with their soul- stirring 
surroundings. Sworn to celibacy, their ranks were 
replenished with recruits from the seriously inclin- 
ed members of the community, usually from the 
middle classes. Fugitives from the vengeance of 



3 1 6 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

political adversaries frequently found refuge with 
the brotherhood. Sometimes a man of property 
would endow them with all his possessions, and 
retire within their ranks to count the beads and 
chant the prayers. Sometimes those saddened 
by reverses and disappointed in their aspirations 
slipped away from home and friends to dream 
away the balance of their lives in the routine of 
religious duties. But by far the larger proportion 
of the brotherhood was composed of those who 
had no special ambition or aim in life, and who 
could be easily induced by the proselyting monks 
to enter the sacred walls and be assured of a life 
of comparative ease and comfort. 

I am not aware that any of the monks ever at- 
tained Nirvana. I do not think they were much 
inclined to that sort of thing. I do not think the 
happy, volatile, and inquisitive temperament of the 
Japanese could ever have endured the weary years 
of stupid, deadening abstraction indulged in by 
Chinese and Hindoo devotees. They much pre- 
ferred a life of quiet contentment, with plenty to 
eat and drink, and with no anxiety about worldly 
matters. Chanting the orisons at daylight, break- 
fast at about seven o'clock, light household duties 
during the morning hours, dinner at twelve, study, 
meditation, and recreation in the afternoon, chant- 
ing the vespers at sunset, and a long night for sleep, 
— there you have the whole business in a nut-shell. 
What an opportunity for moral and intellectual 
development ! What might not have been accom- 



HI YE I SAN. 3 I 7 

plished during a thousand years in the way of 
enlightening the world ! 

Yet nothing was accomplished. Aside from 
beautifying and developing temple architecture, 
from creating magnificent forests and avenues 
around their retreats, and instilling into the people 
a certain amount of reverential awe and love for 
Nature, the monks did nothing for the intellect- 
ual or the moral development of Japan. They 
made no inventions or discoveries in any of the 
departments of science. They added nothing 
of any special importance to the literature of 
the empire. No agricultural improvements are 
attributed to them. In no way were they con- 
nected with the political advancement of the 
people. Ambitionless, spiritless, deadening, their 
lives were just like their creed — a hopeless 
endeavor to merge existence into oblivion and 
Nirvana. Their lives were perfect blanks. The 
vast majority did not live by the strict rules of 
their sect. They evaded almost every require- 
ment. They followed the inclination of their vol- 
atile natures. They indulged in the entire list of 
vices. They were gamblers, libertines, drunkards, 
and sodomites. Rarely would you find good and 
pious men ; and these were unable to stem the tide 
of corruption that prevailed in the monasteries. 
Although not so warlike, the monks throughout 
the empire were no better than those of Hiyeisan. 
A life of utter idleness and sensuous ease, without 
any elevating power in their religion sufficient to 



3 I 8 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

master the bent of their passions and appetites, 
completely neutralized any elevating effect de- 
rivable from their lovely surroundings. What 
literature they did produce consisted of wild and 
improbable legends invented by their vivid imagi- 
nations and tacked on to the life of Shaka, or on 
to that of some canonized monk. 

* There is absolutely nothing in Buddhism to 
elevate mankind as the religion of Christ has done. 
This conclusion, I think, is sound. It is the result 
of long observation. The teachings of Shaka are 
a wild dream, a weird speculation, a fantastic 
theory, an ingenious hypothesis of a sincere and 
noble soul blindly groping for some principle that 

* In order that you may understand why the descriptive portion 
of this letter should here abruptly merge into an argument, it may 
be well to explain that the method of reasoning herein followed was 
one evolved from many hours of animated discussion with my schol- 
ars during several years of teaching. Some of my pupils were keen 
and intelligent young men who had become versed in all the skep- 
tical arguments of the age against Christianity. It was always un- 
derstood that I, while in no sense a sectarian, was a firm believer 
in the doctrines of Christ; and furthermore, that I was always ready 
to take up the gauntlet in defense of my beliefs whenever a scholar 
desired to discuss such subjects; provided, however, that the dis- 
cussion was in legitimate connection with the lesson of the day and 
did not conflict with other duties. As a matter of course, the young 
men, arguing in English, did not always express themselves clearly 
or idiomatically; but, after comprehending their full meaning, I 
always reduced their arguments, as a matter of courtesy, to intelli- 
gible shape, prior to combating them. The majority of their argu- 
ments were weak and easily disposed of. Some of their attacks, 
however, as you will probably admit in reading the balance of this 
letter, were by no means easy to meet. 



HI Y EI SAN. 319 

should explain the mysteries of life and death. It is 
claimed by some Boston philosopher that the funda- 
mental principles of Buddhism and those of Chris- 
tianity are the same ; that both are identical in 
underlying truths; that both are human religions, 
and that the religion of Christ will not elevate the 
Asiatics any more than the religion of Shaka has 
done ; that each religion is specially adapted by 
nature to those countries where it prevails. What 
a wild statement ! No thinking and candid man 
who has lived for any number of years among 
Buddhists would ever say this. Nobody who 
knows anything about the practical workings of 
Buddhism from personal experience could ever 
have the audacity to make so false a statement. 
Your Boston philosopher has evidently derived all 
his ideas of Buddhism from books. It is impos- 
sible to account for his inaccurate conclusions in 
any other way ; unless we assume that he harbors 
a bitter hatred against the religion of Christ, de- 
rived, as is sometimes unfortunately the case, from 
bitter associations during childhood. Let us argue 
this matter a little. 

All institutions must be judged by their effects 
or results. As it has been expressed, " from their 
fruits shall ye know them." There is no other test 
that can be applied. And this test is a perfectly 
satisfactory one. Now, I lay down the reasonable 
proposition that the object of religion is to elevate 
the spiritual and moral nature of man. If it fails 
to accomplish this, then what is it good for ? Is it 



320 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

merely to breed superstition among childish men 
and women ? If that is all it can accomplish, it 
had better be abolished. Now let us apply this 
test to the religion of Christ and to that of 
Shaka. 

Buddhism has been in the world about twenty- 
five hundred years. It has prevailed for two 
thousand years throughout all eastern Asia. The 
religion of Christ has been in the world only 
eighteen hundred years. It has prevailed through- 
out western Europe for less than thirteen centuries. 
Twenty-five centuries ago, Buddhism commenced 
to operate upon people who were the most refined 
and civilized in existence. They had a literature 
fully two thousand years old. They had cities and 
palaces of vast size and magnificence. Eighteen 
centuries ago England was inhabited by a race of 
tattooed savages living in caves and fens. Cities 
were unknown. Marshes and dense forests covered 
a group of cheerless and uninviting islands with 
mists and fogs dripping from above during the 
greater part of the year. The condition of Den- 
mark, Germany, and France was but little better. 
There were no cities, no bridges, no literature. 
Forests and marshes covered the face of the 
country. Fierce savages rendered these regions 
more dangerous than the wild beasts. Paganism 
of the grossest and stupidest description prevailed. 
And Spain was not much better off. While Italy 
was peopled by a race of warriors whose fierce 
natures and sensuous appetites were violently hos- 



HIYEISAN. 



321 



tile to such curbing as the teachings of Christ in- 
culcated. 

Now what is the moral and spiritual develop- 
ment of Europe to-day as compared with that of 
Asia? Is it not immeasurably superior? Nay, can 
you compare the moral and spiritual condition of 
Europe with that of Asia at all ? I think not. It 
is vain and foolish to attempt to argue that the 
religion of Christ has not accomplished this won- 
derful change. It is silly and wicked to try to 
confuse the Romish Church with Christianity, and 
then urge that Christianity has retarded the de- 
velopment of science and of man's intellectual and 
spiritual nature. The religion of Christ, those 
principles enunciated by Him, never were antago- 
nistic to the development of human knowledge. 
But, on the contrary, by purifying man's moral 
nature and delivering him from the cloying ap- 
petites of his animal being, these principles, when 
conscientiously practiced, have always tended to 
elevate his spiritual nature and to give tone and 
strength to his intellectual powers that eminently 
fitted him for scientific research and profound in- 
vestigation. A consistent practicing of the prin- 
ciples of Christianity invariably tends to develop 
man's bodily, mental, and spiritual nature. A con- 
sistent practicing of Buddhism deadens and dwarfs 
the bodily, the mental, and the spiritual powers of 
man in a most shocking manner. In direct propor- 
tion as races consistently follow the spirit of the 
teachings of Christ, in the same ratio will they be- 
21 



32 2 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

come elevated in their triple natures. This seems 
to me to be a sound and logical conclusion based 
upon accurate facts. 

Therefore I say that facts show that the religion of 
Christ, or Christianity used in my sense, has elevated 
those nations consistently practicing it infinitely 
above those nations consistently practicing Bud- 
dhism, or the religion of Shaka. It is, therefore, the 
better religion, even from this stand-point alone. If 
the fundamental principles of Buddhism were the 
same as those of Christianity, they would equally 
have elevated the moral and spiritual nature of man, 
would they not ? Those principles had a keen, 
shrewd, and intelligent race to operate upon. The 
races of Europe possess no faculty of mind, soul, or 
body that the races of Asia are not also endowed 
with. The vast difference between the European 
nature and the Asiatic nature of to-day lies in the 
fact that the religion of Christ has demanded the 
development of a higher set of faculties and quali- 
ties than Buddhism has called for. A thousand 
years spent in developing these nobler elements of 
the soul has resulted in the evolution of a race 
whose social, political, and moral instincts are so 
infinitely superior to those of Asia that you would 
hardly believe the people of these two continents 
could have sprung from the same stock. The 
religion of Christ has shown itself to be able to 
elevate mankind infinitely more than Buddhism has 
done. This of itself would naturally lead even a 
casual observer to suspect that its fundamental 



HI Y EI SAN. 



323 



principles must be not only superior to those of 
Buddhism but also vastly different. And so they 
are. Let us compare them. 

Buddhism teaches that existence is undesirable ; 
that our appetites and passions should all be 
crushed and eliminated ; that we should strive to 
attain Nirvana, thus merging existence into anni- 
hilation ; and that if we do not attain Nirvana, we 
will be compelled to endure ceaseless cycles of 
existence. In short, it teaches that existence is a 
curse, and thus degrades every human faculty by 
endeavoring to dwarf and crush them into nothing- 
ness. If everybody put such teachings into prac- 
tice, mankind would be exterminated within a 
generation — for it is the privilege and the duty of 
every Buddhist to strive to attain Nirvana. The 
result of such doctrines is the stultifying and 
deadening of all human faculties, and the produc- 
tion of mild, ambitionless, degraded people. 

Now, on the other hand, the religion cf Christ 
teaches that God created man for a life of happi- 
ness in this world, and for a life of greater happi- 
ness in the world to come ; that He endowed us 
with appetites and passions that were to be curbed 
and enjoyed ; that the proper regulation and en- 
joyment of them are productive of physical, men- 
tal, and spiritual development ; that Christ himself, 
the son of God, was our example in these matters, 
and had set forth principles and rules for our guid- 
ance in these matters ; and that if we patterned 
our lives after His, all would be well. 



324 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Again : The religion of Christ teaches the doc- 
trine of the atonement, and the doctrine of the re- 
pentance and remission of sins without any earthly 
mediator, but by direct communion with God. 
Shaka never taught any such doctrine, nor have 
any of the prominent expounders of his faith ever 
breathed or hinted at so sublime a remedy for 
human woes. The majesty, the power, and the in- 
definable beauty of this doctrine alone give Chris- 
tianity a hold upon the affections and sympathies 
of a fallen race that the stony precepts of Shaka 
never approximated to even. 

Again: The religion of Christ teaches that we 
shall see our Redeemer in the next life ; that we 
shall know and be known of him ; that we shall have 
a conscious, happy, and glorious existence through- 
out all eternity upon the performance of certain 
easy conditions in this life. Shaka taught that we 
should be annihilated. Whatever his disciples in 
succeeding centuries may have taught, there can be 
no doubt that Shaka himself inculcated the doctrine 
of annihilation, — Nirvana. 

Again : The religion of Christ recognizes the 
worth, the merits, and the virtues of woman in 
a manner absolutely unknown to Buddhism. It 
reaches with its fostering care that half of the hu- 
man race which Buddhists not only ignore but 
treat with contempt. 

Again : The religion of Christ is perfect. It 
was given to us in a perfect condition. Nothing 
has been added to it in eighteen centuries. Nor 



HIYEISAN. 325 

have the culture and refinement of nearly two thou- 
sand years been able to suggest any improvement, 
to make any amendment, or to find any defect 
therein. It is perfect, — just as we received it from 
the hands of God, and just as we should expect 
God to present a code of morality to man. It 
leaves no doubt as to its origin. It emphatically 
and distinctly declares itself to be from God, the 
Father. This point is dwelt upon with great clear- 
ness, and is frequently repeated. Its teachings meet 
all human requirements. No emergency in life is 
too complicated for it. If consistently and intelli- 
gently practiced, it will produce perfect happiness 
in this life. On the other hand, the religion of 
Shaka was full of imperfections. It was fearfully 
vague and indefinite. Its cardinal doctrines were 
annihilation and transmigration. It had an exceed- 
ingly meager moral code. His followers have 
patched up its weak points in succeeding centuries. 
They have built upon it an imperfect system of mo- 
rality. In a word, it shows every possible trace of 
its human origin. It never claimed to be of divine 
origin. His followers may have made this claim in 
its behalf, but there is no satisfactory evidence that 
Shaka himself ever made any such claim. It is ex- 
ceedingly imperfect and lamentably feeble in all its 
details, — just like human productions of that de- 
scription. 

Again: Christ is a clearly defined and distinct 
historical character. His birth, life, teachings, and 
death are pictured with great minuteness and de- 



326 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

tail. Four historians record these facts without 
any material contradiction, and the testimony of a 
vast throng of witnesses is in evidence to corrobo- 
rate the substantial accuracy of those histories. 
He was crucified and held up to the gaze of the 
world so conspicuously that none of his followers 
have ever attempted to question that fact, no mat- 
ter how humiliating and galling might be the 
heathen taunt about a God hung between thieves. 
The existence and deeds of Christ are as thoroughly 
established as those of Julius Caesar. 

But, on the other hand, Shaka and his deeds are 
almost a myth. That he was the son of some Raj 
in northern Hindostan, — possibly near Benares or 
Sarnath, — seems tolerably well established ; that he 
taught the doctrines of annihilation and transmi- 
gration seems pretty clear ; and that he died in 
exile may, perhaps, be accepted as a fact. But 
beyond this, everything is a mystery. The best 
authorities cannot make more out of his history. 
The mass of legends woven around his life by cen- 
turies of succeeding devotees I rule out of evi- 
dence. It is most untrustworthy hearsay. If I 
were to apply the rules of evidence as strictly to the 
historic proof of the life and deeds of Shaka as I 
apply them to those of Christ, he would certainly 
be a mythical personage. 

Again: But why waste any more time? I 
could easily write a book showing the world-wide 
difference between these two great religions. But 
it is useless to try and make any comparison be- 



HIYEISAN. 327 

tween them at all. The fundamental principles 
underlying them are as divergent as the east is from 
the west. The religion of Christ is divine. That 
of Shaka is a superb generalization of a human 
soul groping for the light. It is the device of a 
sympathetic nature striving to fathom the mys- 
teries of human life. It is the most ingenious 
theory ever propounded by mortal man. That is 
all it is. True, the votaries at its shrines encom- 
pass one-third of the population of the globe ; 
but it is fatally weak and deficient to meet the 
moral requirements of mankind for all that. Nor 
will another batch of legendary amendments 
patched on to the mass of stupid myths already 
smothering Shaka's poor generalizations ever make 
it equal to Christianity. Strip of! the superin- 
cumbent mass of devices that the Romish Church 
attempted to tack upon Christianity, and you will 
have the pure doctrines of the Gospels. But when 
you strip off the monastic lore from Buddhism, 
what have you ? Almost nothing. 

Here we have in Japan an amiable and intelli- 
gent race of people, a people whose natural endow- 
ments are unsurpassed. They have lived in one of 
the loveliest climates in the world, with a bracing 
and exhilarating atmosphere. They have been 
surrounded by scenery of matchless beauty and 
magnificence. And, for nearly fifteen centuries, 
they have been under the influence of Buddhism. 
Surely, if there be any great elevating power in 
nature and in Buddhism, it should have raised the 



328 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Japanese people beyond their present level. Surely 
these thousands of monks, communing with nature 
in their sequestered retreats for so many centuries, 
ought to have evolved some theory whereby their 
fellow-men might have been elevated. But they 
have not done so. This seems to me to be con- 
clusive that men, of themselves, unaided by divine 
revelation, cannot rise to so exalted a condition 
as they can when assisted by divine revelation. 
They at least have never shown the disposition to 
do so. 

But your Boston philosopher triumphantly an- 
nounces that because some of the principles of 
Christianity are found in the teachings of modern 
Buddhism and in Confucianism that, therefore, 
Christ was merely a human reformer enunciating 
principles of human nature ; that there was noth- 
ing supernatural about it at all ; that any human 
being can evolve these principles from his inner 
consciousness by concentrating his attention there- 
on ; that because human beings in Asia have enun- 
ciated some of the identical principles contained in 
the Decalogue and in the Gospels, therefore there 
is no reason why all the principles of the Decalogue 
and of the Gospels might not have been evolved by 
human beings in coming ages without any super- 
natural aid or Divine Revelation ; that Christ was 
merely a reformer enunciating general principles of 
human nature and of human conduct, which same 
principles undoubtedly could have been evolved in 
the future by other men — because it is in evi- 



HI Y EI SAN. 329 

dence that some men did actually evolve or enun- 
ciate some of those principles entirely by them- 
selves. 

I think I have stated the philosopher's argument 
in full. Now let me state my argument in favor 
of the theory that Christianity is of divine origin. 

Either the universe came by chance, or it was 
the creation of some intelligent being. Now, 
which is more probable, that this infinite system 
of revolving worlds was the work of an intelligent 
creator, or that it was merely a chance? Any one 
who believes that the universe came by chance is 
fit to believe anything. Of course, the universe 
was created by some intelligent power. Now this 
Creator formed man with strong appetites and pas- 
sions, and with tremendous moral powers, which, 
if unrestrained and unguided, would quickly have 
wrecked him. Is it not reasonable to suppose that 
he would have given him a moral code whereby he 
might be guided and elevated ? Certainly. Of 
course, it is possible to conceive that a man might 
sit down and evolve these moral principles of his 
nature all by himself, just as a boy might evolve in 
the course of years all by himself the rules of arith- 
metic. But it would be the work of a lifetime in 
all probability. Of course, there is nothing intel- 
lectually impossible in this conception. But the 
probabilities are that it would never be accom- 
plished by any one alone ; but put an arithmetic 
into the boy's hand and he will master the science 
very soon. Theoretically, he might evolve every- 



3 30 LE TTERS FROM J A PAN. 

thing for himself, but practically it would be a pure 
impossibility. 

Just so with the principles of Christianity. They 
are all simple enough when once enunciated. There 
is nothing intellectually impossible in conceiving 
men to be able to evolve them unaided by divine 
revelation, but has any one ever done it ? The 
united intellects of Japan, China, and India have 
only worked out a few of them in several thousand 
years, and they might in future cycles of time 
evolve the balance of them ; but, in the meantime, 
mark the moral stagnation of the people. Is it 
reasonable to suppose that a kind and merciful 
Creator, after forming man with such tremendous 
moral powers, would have cast him adrift to work 
out the problems of life with only such principles 
as he could himself evolve ? What progress do 
you suppose the world would have made? 

I believe Christ was divine because I do not 
think it would have been possible for any single 
man to evolve a perfect system of moral ethics. I 
do not believe a single man could have evolved, 
within thirty-three years, a code of morality so per- 
fect that the criticism of the keenest intellects 
during eighteen centuries has not been able to 
suggest a solitary amendment thereto. None 
of the sciences of to-day are the work of a single 
individual. They are the result of the combined 
thought of centuries. When a man has spent a 
lifetime in evolving a single new principle or law 
we designate his intellect as colossal. We admire 



HIYEISAN. 33I 

and almost adore him. His praises are sung from 
generation to generation. Newton spent twenty- 
years in evolving a theory which a school-girl 
can learn and glibly rattle off with abundant expla- 
nations within a few hours — to all appearances 
thoroughly comprehending it. Euclid spent twenty 
years in evolving the principle of a single proposition 
which a school-girl can now master in an hour ; and 
can eloquently enunciate it as well as the old phi- 
losopher himself, who deemed his labors worthy of 
the sacrifice of a hecatomb of oxen. 

We designate Euclid and Newton as colossal in- 
tellects, and so they were. And now do you 
believe that the son of a Jewish carpenter, sprung 
fro'm an ancestry of tradesmen, with no educa- 
tional advantages, could have evolved a system 
of moral ethics so perfect in every detail that the 
civilization of the nineteenth century can not find 
a single flaw therein? If you believe this, then 
you can believe anything. I, for my part, believe 
that Christ was God incarnate. I believe that His 
teachings were divine revelations. Upon no other 
hypothesis can I account for their matchless purity 
and perfection. I deem them to be divine reve- 
lations because such belief is consistent with my 
ideas of an intelligent and merciful Creator, giving 
to the helpless being that he has endowed with 
such tremendous powers, a moral code suitable for 
controlling his primitive nature ; and, further, as 
this being attains to higher conditions of intellec- 
tual development and social refinement, such belief 



332 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

is consistent with my ideas of a kind Creator sup- 
plementing that primitive code with a system of 
moral ethics suitable to the complicated conditions 
of mankind in all ages and among all races. And I 
know that my belief in these doctrines has been an 
anchor to my soul in the troubled waters of this 
heathen community, keeping me from forms of 
vice that I would have yielded to had I consulted 
merely my animal instincts. 

Sincerely yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 




1! 



LETTER XIX. 

SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 

Kioto, November 25, 1877. 

Dear Julius Marcellus : 

After generalizing upon facts derived from four 
years' experience among the Japanese, I have ar- 
rived at a number of conclusions that will now be 
submitted for your perusal. 

In the first place, I regard the Japanese as the 
most genteel smokers in the world. The use of 
tobacco, as indulged in by them, so far from being 
a filthy habit, is, in fact, an elegant accomplish- 
ment. It is a habit in which the women can in- 
dulge with perfect propriety. It is not character- 
ized by the disgusting expectoration so common 
with us. In short, tobacco smoking, as indulged in 
by the Japanese, is in no sense a vice. We Saxons 
debase ourselves by our manner of using the weed. 
We are not satisfied with smoking it in huge masses, 
but we mumble over huge quids of it, and stuff 
vast quantities of it up our unoffending nostrils. 
Such barbarism in the use of tobacco is unheard of 
in Japan. The natives smoke but minute quanti- 
ties of it at a time. A small pellet of it is put into 
a delicate pipe, and only a couple of whiffs are 



334 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

taken thereof. That description of Japanese smok- 
ing, which characterizes it as " two whiffs and a 
spit," is accurate so far as the whiffing is concerned, 
but is entirely inaccurate as regards the spitting. 

After his night's slumbers, a Jap usually gives a 
tremendous yawn that serves as a rising bell for the 
household, and brings forth his little pipe, whisk- 
ing off seven or eight whiffs in rapid succession, 
tapping the rim of the brazier between times by 
way of emphasis. During the day-time he will in- 
dulge in about twenty seasons of such relaxation — 
supplementing the original allowance, of course, 
with additional puffs whenever a call is received or 
given. The entire amount smoked during a day 
would not equal, if compressed, the bulk of an or- 
dinary cigar, or the abysmal capacity of a meer- 
schaum bowl. Nor is the strength of the tobacco 
the Japanese use to be compared to the pungency 
of the weed that we employ. Smoking, as thus 
gracefully and moderately indulged in, can never 
injure the health. 

Another advantage of the Japanese system of 
smoking is the utter absence of any offensive odor 
lingering about the clothing. I can well remem- 
ber how my chum at college, — a most inveterate 
smoker, — would scent up, not only the clothes 
upon my person, but also the very bedding in the 
room. And, for months afterward, the carpet and 
the tablecloth would be impregnated with a stale 
and rank smell that was intensely disagreeable. 
But I never fully realized the vile barbarism of our 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 335 

method of using tobacco until I rented a Japanese 
house in Tokio and kept " stag hall " therein with 
an Englishman, who was an inveterate smoker. He 
always affirmed that he never expectorated while 
smoking. Whether he was really unconscious of 
any such action on his part, or was merely perpe- 
trating a grim joke, I can not say ; but the condi- 
tion of the tatamis around the spittoons, and of 
the shojees and well-polished verandas, — silent wit- 
nesses of his inaccurate marksmanship, — must have 
filled the inmost soul of our landlord with horror 
and disgust. 

On one occasion, I inspected a native house in 
company with the landlord. It had been occupied 
by a German. We went through rooms that seemed 
to steadily become filthier as we progressed in 
our tour. The previous tenant had evidently dis- 
pensed with the use of spittoons entirely. Nicotine 
was spattered everywhere in indelible stains. The 
dining room, which had evidently been the scene 
of the principal orgies of the fiend and his boon 
companions, presented a scene that fetched a groan 
from the depths of the landlord's innermost parts, 
and fastened wrinkles of disgust around the corners 
of his mouth that lingered there as long as we were 
on the premises, and I know not how long there- 
after. Verily, smoking is a social problem wherein 
the balance of criticism is decidedly in favor of the 
Japanese. 

But, regarding the use of sak£, I cannot speak 
quite so favorably concerning them. Drunkenness 



336 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

prevails throughout the empire in a mild form. I 
use the term " mild," because it certainly is mild 
when compared with the gross and bestial baccha- 
nalian displays so common with Saxons. The 
tame diet of the Japanese does not tend to pro- 
duce violent appetites. During the year, you do 
not often see a drunken person on the streets. On 
public holidays, however, and particularly around 
New Year's Day, it seems to be deemed every- 
body's privilege to get rollicking drunk. Lord and 
vassal, samurai and Jicimin, master and servant, in- 
dulge in sake until all caste distinction is forgotten, 
and bacchanalian good-fellowship characterizes all 
proceedings. If the master has been kind during 
the year, his servants gather about him and lift 
him up in the air half a dozen times or so. This 
elevation is supposed to be typical of their high 
esteem. Some indulge in childish tricks upon each 
other ; some reel around the streets hiccoughing 
forth barbaric odes that harrow up civilized tym- 
panums immeasurably ; while others assume a se- 
date and profound expression of serene gravity, 
which ultimately culminates in a " boozy " slumber. 
Sake is strongly alcoholic in its composition ; and, 
when heated, it flies quickly to the head. The 
Japanese, however, drink it from such small cups 
that it takes them some time to get tipsy off it. The 
Japanese certainly are not such swillers at drink- 
ing as Saxons are. They would gaze with amaze- 
ment upon some of our Germans, who swill down 
daily their ten or twenty glasses of beer ; or upon 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. ?>37 

those Englishmen who use a bottle of brandy in a 
day ; or upon those Irishmen who drain of! whisky 
as if it were only so much water. Yet, in the 
course of a year, a vast amount of sake is con- 
sumed in Japan. But, on the other hand, I am not 
aware that delirium tremens is known in the empire. 
It is certain that drunkenness does not create the 
same havoc in Japan that it does in Europe and 
America. The reason for this may be found in the 
fact that sake is the only liquor in the country, and 
it is by no means pleasant to the taste. Habitual 
users of it have informed me that the only reason 
they use it is, not because they like the taste, but 
because they love its exhilarating effects. 

Grape wine, or wine of any other description, 
has never been known in Japan. Beer, ale, porter, 
and brandy were never made. But when these 
various beverages are manufactured at prices that 
will place them at the disposal of the people, I fear 
the Japanese will be afflicted with intemperance 
to a greater extent than they now are. They love 
the taste of our sparkling wines, and are fascinated 
with their stimulating effects. And, without any 
moral power to check their appetites, it may be 
feared that they will speedily degenerate into a 
nation of topers. The temperance problem is one 
yet to be solved by the Japanese of the future. 

* But let us now compare the Japanese race a 

* One of the most common queries of my pupils was : " Master, 
why is it that your skin is white, while ours is brown ? And why is 
it that there should be different races of men ? " Not being able to 

22 



338 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

little more closely with the Caucasian race. After 
that, we will be in a better position to review some 
of their social characteristics. It is my belief that 
all mankind sprang from Adam and Eve, and that 
the present vast difference in races is to be attrib- 
uted to difference in climate primarily and chiefly, 
and to difference in diet secondarily. I do not 
accept the proposition that the remote progenitors 
of the various races were various species of anthro- 
pomorphous apes, that had been evolved from the 
lower forms of animal and vegetable life preceding 
them in those various countries. Nor do I accept 
the proposition that the various complexions of the 
various races of the present time are to be attrib- 
uted to the difference of the constituent elements 
entering into the composition of the vegetable and 
animal life in these various countries. Let us rea- 
son from the logic of facts a little. 

If you expose yourself in the hot sun, you be- 
come tanned. If you expose yourself to the severe 
winds of winter, you become chapped. In either 
case your complexion is darkened. But if you stay 
in the house all the time, your complexion becomes 
lighter. These are three universal and well ascer- 

furnish them with any satisfactory answer from such scientific works 
as I could obtain, I was forced upon a line of investigation and gen- 
eralization based upon facts derived from traveling and reading, 
which resulted in the conclusions herein set forth. As the subject 
is one that is open to much speculation, and is one yet involved in 
doubt, I presume that I may modestly submit my own theories as 
evolved from class-room discussion, without kindling the wrath of 
professional scientists anchored to their own pet deductions. 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 339 

tained facts. Generalizing therefrom, we say that 
extremes of temperature darken the complexion, 
heat making it black and cold making it reddish. 
Nov/, as the truth of a hypothesis is established 
by its coincidence with existing phenomena, let us 
compare the above theory with existing geograph- 
ical data. In the torrid zone, you will find brown 
and black people, and in the frigid zones you will 
find reddish-brown people, while in the temperate 
zones you will find white people, and people whose 
color approximates to white. But let us go a little 
more into details. Follow the equator around the 
world, and you will find the blackest people living 
upon it and in its immediate vicinity. As you leave 
the equator and go northward or southward toward 
the temperate zones, you will find that complexions 
become proportionately lighter. The Egyptian is 
lighter than the Nubian ; the inhabitants of Spain, 
Italy, and Greece are lighter than the Moor or the 
Arab ; while the inhabitants of ^northern Europe 
and of the British Island's have decidedly lighter 
complexions than those of southern Europe. But 
when you go further northward and reach the land 
of the Esquimaux, you find the peculiar copper 
complexion produced by exposure to extreme cold. 
In Asia, the same law holds true. The Arab, the 
Afghan, the Thibetan and the Chinese are much 
lighter in color than the Hindoo, the Singhalese, 
and the Malay ; and, going farther north, we find 
the Tartars and the Japanese to be of lighter com- 
plexion than any of those people just enumerated. 



340 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Many of the Tartars and Japanese are almost as 
fair as the Saxons, some, indeed, having com- 
plexions quite as fair. And, going yet further 
northward, we find the aborigines of Siberia along 
the cheerless seas of the frigid zones to have a 
copper complexion. 

The same general law holds true in the Western 
Hemisphere. The aborigines on the equator in 
South America are darker than the Red-skins of 
North America. The present population of Amer- 
ica cannot be fairly cited to uphold my theory, 
because they have immigrated from Europe at a 
comparatively recent date. But the query may 
arise as to whether the ultimate complexion of the 
people living in the United States will be reddish- 
brown, like that of the North American Indian. 
To this query a negative answer may safely be 
given, for the Indians throughout the North 
American Continent were continually exposed to 
climatic^ changes. They were more like animals 
living in the open air than like human beings. 
Whatever the darkening tendency of exposure of 
the skin to heat and cold might have been, it cer- 
tainly had a fair opportunity to operate upon these 
savages. But after a few centuries, I think that 
the complexion of the inhabitants of the Southern 
States will be found to be of a tawnier hue than 
that of their Northern brethren. 

Coming to Japan, we find our hypothesis illus- 
trated with startling exactness. The heimin who 
labor in the fields, and whose ancestors for many 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 34 1 

centuries have been thus exposed to the sun, 
are darker in complexion than the higher classes. 
The mercantile classes who for centuries have lived 
in cities, dwelling within the shade, are lighter in 
complexion than the peasants, who for centuries 
have labored almost naked in the rice-fields. The 
fishermen along the coasts are also of a darker 
complexion ; and the samurai, who from remote 
times have taken their ease within the shade, are 
quite fair in complexion, some of them, indeed, 
being almost as white as Saxons. Some of the 
court ladies, in fact, are quite as white as the 
fairest Saxon. 

So we have here in Japan a race like ourselves; 
a race sprung from the same progenitors, a race 
with precisely the same spiritual, intellectual, and 
physical qualities. We have developed a higher 
set of faculties, and consequently possess nobler 
natures. Our meat diet gives us a finer physical 
development. Milk, butter, and meat give strength 
and rotundity to the flesh and muscles, and a fresh 
and plump appearance to the face. An exclusive 
rice diet gives a sallow complexion. Milk, cheese, 
butter, beef, and mutton have never been used by 
the Japanese at all. There are no goats in the 
empire, and but few cows. Boiled rice, with the 
merest nibble of meat and salt radish, has formed 
the diet of the masses of the people for many cen- 
turies, and they are a feeble race to-day ; while the 
Caucasians and the Tartars, who have lived on 
meat and milk from time immemorial, are to-day 



342 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

the most vigorous portion of humanity. I have no 
doubt that with several generations of our diet the 
Japanese will become in every way our peers phys- 
ically. This, however, is a social problem that 
must be left for time to solve. 

The Japanese are a very amative race. They are 
not licentious like the Turks, but are strongly in- 
clined to be sensuous. Their low diet has, to a 
great extent, kept down the grosser passions of 
their nature. We now come face to face with that 
strange institution of the feudal Government of 
Japan known as the Yoshiwara system. This was 
a system of legalized prostitution. It was not 
only legalized but it was under government patron- 
age. The government support of such an institu- 
tion has been whimsically accounted for by Darwin 
in his Descent of Man on the hypothesis that the 
government feared that the Japan Islands would 
become eventually too full of people, and that they 
therefore took this method of keeping down the 
population. But the Legacy of Iyeyas says that 
it was done to restrain the passions of the samurai 
within proper limits, so that there need not be end- 
less floggings to keep the hordes of warlike re- 
tainers in order. And this is probably the true 
explanation. Macaulay says that an Englishman 
and a Frenchman will reason to opposite conclu- 
sions frequently from the same fact. And it is not 
an uncommon thing in the realm of science for two 
minds to reason to opposite conclusions from the 
same premises. One of these conclusions, however, 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 343 

must be an exceptional one. Some minds are fond 
of reasoning to exceptional conclusions. It seems 
to me that Darwin's mind was of this order. He 
showed it in reasoning about the descent of man 
from anthropomorphous apes. Given the facts that 
the physical structure of animals bears a striking 
resemblance to that of man, and that man seems 
to be a later production, Darwin prefers the con- 
clusion that man was evolved from lower animal 
forms during countless ages instead of the conclu- 
sion that these facts argue that all creatures were 
made upon the same general plan by the same Cre- 
ator. 

The Yoshiwara system was undoubtedly the pro- 
duction of feudal licentiousness. With three 
millions of fierce samurai to control, it was no 
wonder that the Tokugawas should have hit upon 
this low method of curbing the violent natures of 
their retainers. What better method had they ? 
Neither Shintoism nor Buddhism furnished any 
adequate moral check upon the passions of the 
military classes. They therefore developed the 
Yoshiwara system all over the empire. And the 
Daimios of the provinces heartily indorsed the 
system and laid out "worm-eaten spots" in all 
their capitals and great cities. Much money was 
lavished upon these foul localities and they were 
made attractive hells. Vice was there made to 
appear in its most seductive forms. Luxury and 
refinement were impressed into the service of this 
wretched avocation. The misery of the human 



344 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

soul was stifled and soothed by elegant surround- 
ings, and a tolerant and condoning social senti- 
ment made it reputable for persons of good fami- 
lies to take wives from the Yoshiwara, and for 
mothers to sell their daughters to the proprietors 
of the brothels. 

The history of the Yoshiwara system is inter- 
woven with tales of the wildest debauch, of the black- 
est despair, and of the most romantic and hopeless 
love. The brave youth from the provinces, where 
valor is yet a virtue, is smitten with the subtle in- 
fluence and wrecks his fortune and his health upon 
some coquetting courtesan who soon bestows upon 
another victim the withering spell of her hellish 
charms. And now the wanton and beautiful wretch 
is herself ensnared. She, upon whose smiles the 
bloods of the town fondly linger, becomes touched 
with the fire that burns the heart ; and, realizing 
the fearful position in which she has been placed, 
immolates herself upon the shrine of hopeless love, 
and tinges the scandal of the town with melancholy 
tales of her blighted passion. In such a social 
atmosphere was the young samurai brought up. 
What wonder that they degenerated into a class of 
reckless libertines ? The only marvel to me is that 
there was any virtue at all left among the people. 
That wonderful provision of Providence, known as 
the Natural Religion, has truly kept this people 
from degenerating into a race of voluptuous 
imbeciles. 

Coming now to the social condition of the 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. iaz 

Japanese, I consider it safe to say that the relative 
position of the sexes is about the same as it is in 
all countries. I am old-fashioned enough to be- 
lieve that God created mankind in accordance with 
certain general laws that can not be changed by us. 
It seems manifest to me that He made man to be 
the unit of political power, and woman to be the 
unit of social power. He has made man to be the 
aggressive, the progressive, the governing power in 
the world. He has made woman to be the conserv- 
ative and refining power in the world. It is man's 
nature to be democratic and liberal. It is woman's 
nature to be fond of social distinctions, to be aris- 
tocratic. It is man's nature to compete and con- 
tend not only with his fellow-man, but also with 
Nature herself. Following this impulse, he has 
developed all the political institutions of the world, 
and has also covered the globe with cities, rail- 
roads, navies, and productive fields. But it is 
woman's nature to shrink from contest and to en- 
twine her affections around those she loves with 
engrossing and tender devotion. She has filled the 
world with homes, with sweet and tender recollec- 
tions, with elevated sentiment and religious impulses. 
She has been the friend, the companion, and the 
affectionate counsellor of man in all ages and in all 
countries. This relative position of the sexes pre- 
vails all over the world. Wherever the condition 
of woman is degraded, there also is the condition 
of man correspondingly low. And wherever the 
condition of woman is elevated, there is the position 



346 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

of man correspondingly high. But their relative 
positions are always about the same. Man is al- 
ways the progressive, the aggressive, the governing 
power ; woman is as generally the conservative, the 
refining power. Mankind cannot change this rela- 
tive position of the sexes. By the force of our 
natures we must act out our respective parts until 
some greater power shall otherwise ordain. 

I hate and despise the tendency in England and 
America to antagonize the sexes. Those female 
agitators, who endeavor to make their sisters dis- 
satisfied with their lot, and who proclaim that man 
is but a usurper who has violently seized upon the 
more desirable positions in life, and has forced 
woman into less desirable, and inferior positions, 
are but insulting the dignity of their own sex. 
That which God has ordained, call thou not inferior. 
Each position is highly honorable. Neither is in- 
ferior. Neither is superior. The world cannot 
afford to lose the gentle qualities of women, for 
there is nothing in the masculine nature that can 
replace those qualities. 

While in Japan woman has always been the 
friend, and the companion of man, and has been 
the mother of the rising generations, man, on the 
other hand, has always been the governing power. 
He did not usurp anybody's right. He was dele- 
gated by the Creator to be the controlling force. 
He has founded the political institutions of the 
empire ; he has built the cities and the navies of 
the realm ; the bridges, the highways, the temples, 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 347 

are all the work of his hands. All the textile man- 
ufactures, the matchless embroideries, the lovely 
lacquer ware, the exquisite porcelains, the magnifi- 
cent bronzes, the intricate carvings, are his produc- 
tions. The carpenters, the masons, the stone-cutters, 
the blacksmiths, the artisans of every description, 
have always been men. All the severe labor that 
has reclaimed the land of this empire from waste 
and desolation, and has made it into a vast and 
lovely garden, was performed by men. And the 
immense annual expenditure of toil and patience 
that is now required to keep these millions of acres 
under a state of cultivation, is furnished by men, 
and bear in mind that all this is done without any 
claim of superiority on the part of the men. The 
Creator has designed them for this work, and by 
the force of circumstances they naturally and cheer- 
fully obey the hidden power that controls them 
without ever thinking of sounding their own praises 
for so doing. 

Generally speaking, the Japanese men make kind 
and affectionate husbands ; and the women make 
virtuous and exemplary wives and mothers ; and 
the children are certainly the happiest little imps 
in the world ; their parents fondle and spoil them 
most effectually, and, at the same time, never lose 
their control over them. The non-irritating nature 
of the native diet has much to do with such serene 
nerves and temperaments. I have never seen a 
child whipped in Japan ; on three or four occasions 
I have seen a reproving mother administer a mild 



348 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

slap over the head, which correction invariably 
brings the little recalcitrants to order. 

The husband has absolute control over the person 
of his wife ; at the same time, I have never seen a 
man strike a woman in Japan, yet I believe that 
there is considerable pinching and slapping done 
on occasions when those strange and ungovernable 
spells of exasperating ugliness, known as tantrums, 
settle down upon their matrimonial horizon. On 
these occasions there is considerable free hitting, 
biting, and scratching indulged in on both sides of 
the house ; but the greater strength of the husband 
invariably leaves him master of the situation, and 
the belligerent household speedily resumes its se- 
rene and happy course. On such occasions, unless 
physical force were resorted to, it would be difficult 
to say where matters would end ; for the women 
are very childish, and, in their paroxysms of fury, 
might speedily demolish the household, unless re- 
strained. These family jars are not of frequent 
occurrence, but they make up in intensity for their 
rarity. 

It is far more common for women to quarrel with 
each other than for husbands and wives to quarrel. 
I was once passing down a village street when I 
heard a tremendous commotion. Two women, 
upon opposite sides of a street, were railing at each 
other at the rate of about sixty miles an hour. 
The atmosphere fairly glowed with vituperation. 
I arrived upon the scene just as they rushed at 
each other, spitting, scratching, and biting like a 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 349 

couple of furious cats. They were clawing each 
other in terrible earnest when the husband of one 
of the combatants rushed upon them and tore 
them apart, hurling one of them to one side of the 
street and the other one to the other side, where 
they respectively glared at each other awhile and 
then cooled down. In a few minutes they were 
quietly discussing the misunderstanding and were, 
to all appearances, upon amicable terms. 

When I was living in Tokio I became acquainted 
with an occurrence that was shocking yet unavoid- 
able. We were keeping house in Ban-cho. Our 
cook lived with his wife in a distant wing of the 
house. His lady persisted in bathing during the 
summer in our front yard. We instructed our 
cook that this scandalous proceeding must be 
stopped as we did not care to have our visitors 
confronted with any such spectacle. He accord- 
ingly ordered her to desist from using our garden 
as a bath-room. But, behold ! next day found her 
again bathing in the shrubbery. We complained 
to the cook at once, and he said he would see that 
it did not happen again. We soon heard a fearful 
scream. The cook quietly came into our parlor 
holding in his hand a hoe handle, with which he 
had crept up behind his unsuspecting spouse and 
had inflicted a terrible blow upon her bare back. 
He said that he did not think we would be again 
annoyed by his wife, but that, if we were, to report 
immediately and he would make her " eat stick " 
without limit. We felt like making him " eat 



3 5 O LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

stick " for the balance of the day. But, upon sober 
thought, we came to the conclusion that nothing 
could be done except to forbid any further per- 
sonal chastisement upon our premises. What can 
you possibly do with such people ? They are 
mere children. Yet, while all this sounds very hor- 
rible, and we feel inclined to hold up our hands 
and denounce such barbarism, we should modestly 
bear in mind that we do not need to go back very 
far in English history to find that women were 
nearly drowned in ducking stools, and were flogged 
upon the bare back through the streets. Truly we 
live in a strange world ! And the incongruities 
of the nineteenth century are the strangest part 
of it. 

You may easily infer that the question of Woman 
Suffrage has not yet agitated Japan. This ques- 
tion cannot arise until the question of popular 
enfranchisment is up for discussion. At present, 
no one in Japan has the right of suffrage. The 
emperor and his cabinet rule with absolute power. 
In a few years, however, there will undoubtedly 
be some sort of Parliament or Congress convened. 
Then will there be limited suffrage in some shape 
or other, after which it may be safely presumed 
that universal male suffrage will gradually be 
adopted. Then will the people be in the interest- 
ing position to discuss female suffrage. I appre- 
hend, however, that by that time the general dis- 
inclination and inaptitude of women for political 
life will be so clearly demonstrated in Europe and 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 35 I 

America that the Japanese will be relieved from 
any violent commotion on this subject. But it will 
be interesting, nevertheless, to briefly review some 
of the pet arguments advanced in favor of Woman 
Suffrage in Europe and America, and to see how 
they will fit Japan. I am constrained to stir up 
this hornets' nest because of the fire-brand that 
you inconsiderately hurled at me last month, 
through the medium of the United States mail, in 
the shape of a pamphlet written by a rabid agitator 
of the opposite sex, whose bitter denunciations, 
aimed at the sex to which I have the misfortune to 
belong, placed me under a cloud of humility from 
which I am now but timidly emerging. You will 
therefore kindly make allowance for my demoral- 
ized condition, and you will excuse any heresy 
that may chance to crop out in my very humble 
opinions. One favorite argument in favor of 
Woman Suffrage is that there should be no tax- 
ation without representation. It is urged that 
women hold property, and pay taxes on property, 
and yet do not have any voice in making the laws 
of the country. There is a plausible revolu- 
tionary ring about this argument that is, at first, 
very catching. But a close inspection will reveal 
its fallacy and speciousness. It is quite true that 
women holding property are compelled to pay 
taxes thereon. And this is quite just and reason- 
able, because this property is protected both in 
times of peace and in times of war by the civil and 
military power of the State. This power of the State 



352 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

is based upon masculine force. By means of this 
masculine force, order is maintained, enemies are 
kept away, and the property becomes enriched 
and enhanced in value by the peaceful and bene- 
ficial influence of a civilized community. Such fa- 
vorable conditions would not exist in turmoil and 
war. Masculine force is the power that keeps the 
peace. This service must be paid for by property, 
whether owned by man or woman. This general 
principle holds quite as fast in Japan as in other 
parts of the world 

It should also be borne in mind that the number 
of women holding property is very small w r hen 
compared with the number of men holding prop- 
erty. Men are, and have always been, the accu- 
mulators, the originators, the makers of property. 
It is a rare thing for women to accumulate or make 
property. Other and more important duties 
demand their attention. Almost all the female 
property holders in the world have been fortunate 
enough to inherit their wealth from male kindred, 
w r ho, perhaps, have spent years of severe toil in 
accumulating it ; and they must take the property 
with its incumbrances as well as with its benefits. 
They are at full liberty to revel in its princely 
revenues, which they have done nothing to earn. 
But, on the other hand, they must also pay the 
annual tax that the Board of Assessors placed op- 
posite to it when it was held by father, husband, 
brother, or uncle. It is the property that is taxed, 
not the individual. If the property comes to her 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 353 

incumbered with mortgages, tax-arrears, or other 
debts of her father, she must pay off these liabili- 
ties or the property will be auctioned off by the 
creditors. Property is taxed irrespective of the 
sex of the party holding the title deeds. 

Now, if the vast mass of property in this world 
had been accumulated by women, there would be 
some justice in the claim that they should have a 
voice in legislation affecting it. But almost all 
the property in this world has been accumulated 
by men. They are the busy workers who have 
developed the resources of the earth. Women 
rarely accumulate property, as they were not de- 
signed to compete, to struggle, to concentrate all 
their thoughts and efforts on such things. They 
have neither the time nor the inclination for severe 
and laborious application in pursuit of wealth. 
Now men have made equitable laws regulating 
property in general. These laws are just and im- 
partial, and do not unjustly discriminate against 
property held by women. Therefore I fail to see 
why universal suffrage should be granted to women 
because a few of their more fortunate sisters have 
inherited from their male kindred a certain amount 
of property, which, ii> the course of time, will 
probably revert by inheritance to some male 
kinsman, or will be gradually reabsorbed by male 
competitors in the vicissitudes of trade. Suffrage 
should be based upon some general law in nature, 
not upon exceptions. This observation will also 
be found to be applicable to Japan. 
23 



354 LE TTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Furthermore, legislation is powerless and absurd 
without the ability to enforce its mandates. The 
power that enforces laws should be the power to 
make laws. Man is the power that enforces laws 
in this world. Therefore I fail to see why the bas- 
ing of suffrage upon man as the unit of political 
power is not a correct general principle. To illus- 
trate our theory, let us suppose that universal male 
and female suffrage prevails in the United States. 
Suppose that all the women vote to have a mon- 
archical form of government, and that all the men 
vote to have a republican form of government. 
The women, although outnumbering the men, 
could not enforce their wish against the men 
through lack of power. But, on the other hand, if 
all the men were to vote in favor of a monarchical 
form of government, and all the women were to 
vote in favor of a republican form of government, 
the men could readily enforce their wish in the 
matter. 

Men, as a matter of courtesy, may unite and 
agree to give women equal right of suffrage with 
themselves. But this would not increase the en- 
forcing power of the state at all. Paper money 
has a purchasing power when it represents gold 
and silver. Let the bullion cease to exist, how- 
ever, and where would be the purchasing power of 
your paper money? If you issue twice as many 
bills as there is specie in the country, you reduce 
their purchasing power by one-half. In precisely 
the same manner a paper ballot represents the po- 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 355 

litical unit behind it. If the voice of the ballot-box 
be disobeyed, you call out your police forces and 
your armies and enforce its mandate. Man is the 
power, the coercive force, in the state. Without 
that implied coercive force, your laws become inef- 
fective and ridiculous. Women may meet in legis- 
lative halls and pass resolutions and formulate de- 
crees at pleasure, but it is man that they call upon 
to destroy the trespassing rat that is carrying con- 
sternation into their ranks and disturbing the legis- 
lative equipoise of their deliberations. 

To increase the number of ballots in the box will 
not necessarily increase the coercive power in the 
state. Men may grant the privilege of casting 
these ballots to their mothers, sisters, wives, and 
daughters, under the mistaken notion that they are 
merely conferring a right. But, in reality, they are 
sharing their birthright as a matter of courtesy 
with their families without realizing that they are 
disturbing the political equipoise of the land, and 
are opening the door for dangerous and humiliat- 
ing complications. 

Another argument that has been advanced in 
favor of Woman Suffrage is that woman will purify 
the ballot-box. Inasmuch as there are nearly as 
many bad women in the world as there are bad 
men, and as woman does not appear to have 
cleansed society from its many evils in the course 
of several thousand years — the realm where they 
reign supreme — it is quite incomprehensible to me 
how they will do any better at purifying ballot- 



356 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

boxes. For you can not discriminate in this mat- 
ter and give the right of suffrage to the virtuous 
women alone, but you must confer this right on all 
women alike. And I can assure you that I would 
prefer life in a pagan country to going up to the 
ballot-box in company with a gang of drunken, 
cursing women on election day. Bad men are 
disagreeable enough on such occasions ; but may 
Providence spare us from bad women ! 

The fact is, that if woman had been designed to 
exercise the right of suffrage she would have exer- 
cised it long before our day. And, if she has not 
been designed to exercise the right of suffrage, all 
the legislation in the world will not create in her 
any inclination or aptitude for it either in Japan or 
anywhere else. I have no patience with those 
women who neglect and ignore those feminine 
qualities without which the world would be badly 
off indeed ; who degrade their own sex by perpet- 
ually striving to be masculine in sentiment and 
deed, and the burden of whose complaint seems to 
be a protest against God for not having created 
them as men. I do not like to see these agitators 
slighting so large a portion of the human race. 

Leaving, now, this great question of Woman 
Suffrage to be settled by the good sense of future 
Japan, we will briefly consider in conclusion the 
complicated and troublesome question of Capital 
and Labor in Japan. 

Under the feudal system this was a very simple 
question. The three great divisions of society — ■ 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS LN JAPAN. 357 

the samurai, the tradesmen (merchants and arti- 
sans), and the peasantry, were separated by un- 
yielding barriers. The samurai formed the aris- 
tocracy ; the tradesmen dwelt in the cities and 
towns ; the peasantry were the country folks. In 
a population of about thirty millions, it is fair to 
estimate the samurai at about three millions, the 
tradesmen at about fifteen millions, and the peas- 
antry at about twelve millions. Centuries of cul- 
ture and refinement, centuries of affluence and 
power, centuries of privilege and political pre- 
rogative, had been thrown around the samurai, 
until the laws of heredity had developed features 
that were expressive of noble emotions and a de- 
portment typical of dash and politeness. They 
looked upon the tradesmen with supercilious con- 
descension, and upon the peasantry with supreme 
scorn. While a marriage between an impecunious 
samurai and the daughter of a wealthy merchant 
might be tolerated, it was impossible for a samurai 
to marry into the family of a peasant. These two 
classes have been distinct for so many centuries 
that, as regards tastes, disposition, and language, 
they are almost as dissimilar as different races. 
The coarse patois of the tillers of the fields is fre- 
quently unintelligible to the samurai ; while the 
high-flown diction of the samurai, abundantly in- 
terspersed with Chinese words and with endless 
honorifics, and containing long sentences padded to 
death with verbiage and circumlocutory phrases, 
was utterly unintelligible to the peasantry. Com- 



358 LE TTERS FROM J A PAN. 

munication between the two classes was almost 
entirely cut off. The profoundest respect was ex- 
pected from the peasantry. Whenever a samurai 
passed along the highway, the peasant must re- 
move his head-cloth and get off from his beast of 
burden. 

On the other hand, what was the condition of 
the peasantry ? Centuries of oppression had pro- 
duced a race of inoffensive and amiable boors. The 
baby, tumbling around upon the tat amis in the 
hamlet, was destined to develop into a low-browed, 
plodding peasant, destitute of any ambition or 
noble sentiment. How could it have been other- 
wise? Centuries of monotonous diet, centuries of 
unvarying routine of daily occupation, have pro- 
duced an uninteresting similarity of traits in all the 
peasantry throughout the empire. And these cir- 
cumstances have really developed a distinct class 
of people, having coarse features, base natures, and 
cringing dispositions. They have never enjoyed edu- 
cational advantages of any description. They have 
had no social advantages. Nor have they ever, 
from the remotest times, been favored with any 
political power or privilege. Nothing but their 
animal instincts have been developed. No matter 
in what part of the empire you may be traveling, 
you can always single out the peasantry because of 
their hereditary traits. For over a thousand years 
they have been the tillers of the soil, the hewers of 
wood, the bearers of burdens. Nobody has ever 
encouraged them to develop the higher instincts of 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 359 

their souls. None of the nobler faculties of their 
minds have ever been cultivated, if, indeed, they 
have ever been credited with possessing any such 
faculties at all. As a natural result of this course 
of treatment they are to-day ignorant, superstitious, 
and coarse. Yet they are industrious and frugal in 
their habits, amiable and docile in disposition, and 
exceedingly patient and submissive. But they are 
also very obstinate in adhering to their own ideas 
and customs, and, consequently, do not become 
ready converts to civilized innovations. Their 
credulity and superstition are very strong. The 
grossest myths to be found within the creeds of 
the realm have always found them to be staunch 
votaries. They were, in fact, but serfs cultivating 
the ground for their feudal lords, and their condi- 
tion does not appear to have been any better than 
the condition of the serfs in Europe during feudal 
times. 

Midway between these two classes come the 
merchants and artisans. Like the middle classes 
in all countries they formed the backbone of the 
country. They were more refined than the peas- 
antry, having possessed for centuries better educa- 
tional facilities than the poor sons of the soil. 
Their very occupations were a continual means of 
education. They did not possess the daring and 
the polish of the samurai, but they were intelligent 
and enterprising. ' They did not possess the ambi- 
tionless natures of the peasantry, yet they were 
thoroughly submissive, and paid cringing deference 



J 



60 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 



to the samurai. While not vacillating and cynical in 
their religious beliefs, yet were they not as grossly 
ignorant and superstitious as the peasantry. Nor 
were they characterized by that reckless prodigality 
and extravagant wastefulness that seem to accom- 
pany the leisured classes everywhere, but they 
were frugal, prudent, cautious, and conservative. 
For centuries their occupations have been hered- 
itary, until the peculiar traits of their trades seem 
to have impressed themselves to a certain extent 
upon their natures. 

Under the old feudal system, the capital of the 
country centered in the hands of the feudal lords, 
the samurai, and the high-grade merchants. Prac- 
tically the Shogun and the Daimios controlled the 
capital of the entire nation. The produce of the 
land belonged to them. Rice was the medium of 
exchange. It was known how many kokus, or 
bushels of rice, each Daimiate was capable of pro- 
ducing. A certain percentage of this was claimed 
by the Shogun as tribute. A bare pittance was set 
apart for the cultivators thereof, and the balance 
went to the Daimios who pensioned their hordes 
of samurai with immense quantities of it, and 
stored the balance in their warehouses to purchase 
services and merchandise from the artisans and 
merchants. Their magnificent collections of silks, 
porcelains, bronzes, and lacquerware were paid for 
out of this reserve fund ; and as they thus held the 
necessary of life, they were in a position to drive 
very one-sided bargains with the helpless trades- 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 36 1 

men. When in special need of hard cash, they 
would set their own valuation upon the rice, and 
intimate irresistibly to some rich merchant their 
wish that he should purchase it at that price. 
These dignitaries had practically " cornered" all of 
that article within the four seas of Japan. The 
masses were helpless. It would be difficult to con- 
ceive of a more absolute oligarchy. Labor was 
completely at their mercy ; they dictated whatso- 
ever terms they chose, and those terms were the 
bare existence of the laboring classes. Labor was 
looked upon by the samurai with absolute con- 
tempt. It was degraded and despised as only 
effete aristocracies can despise it. The laboring 
people were poor beyond our conception. It is no 
exaggeration to say that, on an average, twenty 
millions out of thirty millions of the population 
lived on less than five dollars per month, and that 
the average laborer lived on less than three dollars 
per month. Rice and the- merest nibble of vege- 
tables and fish constituted their diet, and cotton 
fabrics of coarse quality served as clothing. Only 
the rich could afford silk goods, or a mixture of 
silk and cotton. The average house did not cost 
over five hundred dollars, and the only furniture 
was a few sets of bed-quilts, cooking and house- 
hold utensils, tatamis, and a few ornamented sho- 
jees and screens. Newspapers were unknown, and 
books were rare. Correspondence with adjoining 
provinces was phenomenal when indulged in. A 
person grew up in his native hamlet, and never 



362 LE TTERS FROM J A PAN. 

went twenty miles from it in his lifetime. A per- 
son who had crossed the mountains into an adjoin- 
ing province, or had, perchance, roved as far as 
Yeddo, acquired the reputation of a traveler, and 
was quoted by his neighbors as an authority on 
such subjects. 

Nor were the wealthy people at all affluent in our 
sense of the term. Ten thousand dollars made a 
rich man. Fifty thousand dollars made an exceed- 
ingly rich man. Very few were ever worth one 
hundred thousand dollars. The richest merchant 
Japan ever had lived in Yeddo about one hundred 
years ago. He is reputed to have amassed by a 
series of bold speculations a fortune amounting to 
five millions of dollars. He started in life as an 
orange merchant ; he imported them by junk from 
Kiushiu, a distance of over six hundred miles. On 
one occasion a long spell of tempestuous weather 
kept the various orange fleets coast-bound ; he, 
however, boldly put to sea and reached Yeddo, 
where he sold his fruit on an empty market at a 
fine profit. On another occasion, when Yeddo was 
swept by one of its terrible conflagrations, he 
bought up all the lumber, and "cornered" the 
market, so that when the city was rebuilt every- 
body had to purchase their materials from him, 
and he was enabled thus to amass a fabulous for- 
tune. But, as before observed, such fortunes were 
phenomenal. 

The foregoing description will convey to your 
mind a fair idea of the condition of capital and 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN JAPAN. 363 

labor during feudal times. But when the country- 
was thrown open to foreign intercourse twenty-four 
years ago, the existing relations of Japanese society 
became changed. The tradesmen became affluent 
off foreign commerce ; while the haughty samurai, 
scorning to defile themselves with anything savor- 
ing of labor or trade, became impoverished. This 
state of affairs culminated in the Revolution of 
1 868-1 870, when the Daimios surrendered their 
prerogatives to the government, and the samurai, 
stripped of their hereditary privileges, were reduced 
to the level of common subjects. Some of the 
lowest grade samurai drifted into trade and labor ; 
some had sufficient means to be indifferent to the 
change ; a few actually died of starvation ; but the 
vast proportion of them drifted into government 
employ and into the government schools. As 
matters are now shaping themselves, it is not im- 
probable that in a few years the government will 
base a titled peerage upon this remnant of the old 
feudal aristocracy. 

At present, the clashing between capital and 
labor is hardly known in Japan. The masses will 
be many years in forgetting the old distinction 
between themselves and the upper classes. They 
yet regard the samurai with instinctive fear and 
respect. They yet look upon them as beings in- 
herently superior to themselves. But the day will 
surely come when the laborer will begin to question 
his own inferiority. He will query whether he has 
not more than merely the right to exist ; whether 



364 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

he is not entitled to a few of the pleasures, and to 
a few of the relaxations of this life ; whether he 
should not have a few mental diversions and hours 
of leisure to devote to his spiritual development. 
He will rise above a condition of mere animal con- 
tentedness and be ambitious to promote the 
welfare of his family as well as his own. When 
that time comes, the Japanese will see the application 
of the tenth and of the eleventh commandments, 
which contain, in fact, the only principles that can 
adjust this question here or anywhere else. When 
men learn to do as they would be done by ; when 
they learn to show that consideration for the unfort- 
unate condition of others that is demanded by the 
Gospels, and when those in lowly circumstances 
learn to curb their envy and their jealousy of those 
more fortunately circumstanced than themselves, 
then will be evolved that mutual regard and consid- 
eration between the moneyed classes and the labor- 
ing classes, that will solve this vexed problem in 
all countries. 

Sincerely yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 




HE THREE ESTATES. 



LETTER XX. 

OUR IMPERIAL COUSINS. 

Kioto, December 5, 1877. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

A PERSON can not live long in Japan without 
coming a good deal in contact with English 
people. They constitute a large proportion of the 
foreign community in the far East, and form an 
important social and commercial factor in this 
country. Hardly had Commodore Perry concluded 
his famous treaty with the Shogun before England 
and the European Powers were loudly clamoring 
for similar treaty privileges, which, as a matter of 
course, could not well be withheld from them. 
They speedily filled the Treaty Ports, and, for a 
number of years, plied a vigorous business. The 
number of foreigners in Japan to-day is not over three 
thousand ; and I do not think it an unfair estimate to 
place the number of English residents at fully fifty 
per cent, of the entire foreign community, while 
we Americans who opened up the country do not 
number over twenty per cent, of the community. 

But, although our element is decidedly in the 
minority, yet it is a powerful and an active ele- 
ment, not only in the civilization of Japan, but also 



366 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

in forming the social tone and the public sentiment 
of the general community. Our English cousins, who 
have India all to themselves, and who do pretty 
much as they please in China, find in Japan an 
aggressive and independent sentiment that does 
not submissively yield to British ideas and dictation. 
To say that the British lion chafes and growls 
under this unaccustomed treatment would be put- 
ting it in exceedingly mild terms, when the English 
newspapers of Yokohama, like flaming volcanoes, 
are belching forth the indignation of their country- 
men at some contrary action on the part of the 
Japanese Government, or on the part of the refrac- 
tory Americans. The continued mutterings and 
rumblings of the press would keep the community 
in a state of chronic disturbance were it not for the 
fact that we have learned that when it is quietest, 
then British interests are being conserved ; but that 
when it is loudest, then our interests and those of 
the country are being promoted so as to antagonize 
those of our cousins aforesaid in some way that 
they do not relish. We have therefore come to 
look upon the press as a delicate meter indicating 
the relative progress of the country and of British 
interests ; and we feel cheerful when it is noisiest, 
resting assured that British influence and rapacity 
have been checked by some untoward event, and 
we grow suspicious when the turmoil subsides for 
any great length of time, fearing lest their grasping 
proclivities are being unduly gratified at the expense 
of the outside community. 



OUR IMPERIAL COUSINS. 367 

The antagonism between British and American 
ideas is sharper in Japan than it is anywhere else in 
the Orient. Our views are perpetually coming in 
violent collision. Perhaps the most marked con- 
trast between our method of dealing with the Jap- 
anese and that of the British is shown in our postal 
treaty with Japan, and in our theory respecting the 
Shimonoseki indemnity. When we made our pos- 
tal treaty with the Japanese about four years ago, 
dealing with them as if they were intelligent equals, 
the new departure was met with derisive scorn by 
the English community. With the same verbose 
and acrimonious logic that they used nearly a hun- 
dred years ago in predicting the speedy failure of 
the " Yankee Republic," — that, in fact, they have 
used at each critical juncture in our history ever 
since to demonstrate the worthlessness and im- 
becility of our democratic institutions — they said 
that the Japanese were unable to conduct a postal 
system upon foreign plans, that they were abso- 
lutely untrustworthy, and that dire confusion and 
endless delays would result from their inexperience 
and shiftlessness. Yet the Japanese have managed 
the matter with great ability and credit to them- 
selves, and similar treaties will speedily be con- 
summated with other nations. 

Regarding the Shimonoseki indemnity, ourtheory 
is that it was a vast sum of money unjustly extorted 
from a feeble government that was rent by internal 
dissension, and at a time when it was vainly endeav- 
oring to quell rebellions among semi-independent 



368 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

clans, and to punish those fierce clans for their 
aggressions upon foreigners. To extort millions of 
dollars from the Shogun for the acts of rebels on the 
borders of the empire, after he had done his best 
to punish them for their depredations, and after 
the injured parties had already exacted a sanguin- 
ary vengeance for the misdeeds, we considered un- 
just. We said that the indemnity thus extorted 
should be refunded, and we expressed our willing- 
ness to return our share of it at once. The horror 
and the indignation of our British cousins at being 
asked to return money upon which they had already 
tightened their grip can better be imagined than 
described. A tremendous controversy arose upon 
the subject. This strife yet continues. How it 
will end, I cannot tell. But I trust that our coun- 
trymen will eventually return their portion of the 
spoil, whether England ever does so or not. 

There are three well-defined classes of English- 
men in Japan. The first class is composed of fair- 
minded and courteous individuals who are not so 
bigoted in their notions about Albion's superiority 
as to be unwilling to concede merit to others out- 
side of their own nation. They are willing to learn 
something about other countries. They do not 
pride themselves upon their ignorance of America 
and of American affairs, but they really feel gratified 
in being sufficiently famiiiar with American geog- 
raphy to be able to locate Yale College in Con- 
necticut, and Harvard College in Massachusetts, 
and to be able to state that Philadelphia is a city, 



OUR IMPERIAL COUSINS. 369 

and not a State. As far as they have any pro- 
nounced political views, they are generally liberal 
and democratic in their tendencies. They are in- 
telligent, sociable, and cosmopolitan in their na- 
tures. 

The second class is composed of full-blown, 
hearty specimens of humanity, who take life easy 
and endeavor to avoid as far as possible all worry 
and bother. They are plodding workers and hon- 
est, moderately energetic business men; but at the 
same time they take all the holidays the law allows 
— feeling grievously abused, should the number 
be curtailed — and invariably appropriating all the 
extra ones that they can legitimately obtain. 
They are excellent judges of the respective merits 
of porter, snipe, and pig, but have hazy and indef- 
inite views on political theories differing from their 
conservative ideas about monarchy and aristocracy. 
As connoisseurs of horses, dogs, and trout, they 
are sans pareil ; but their perceptions of the beau- 
ties of republican institutions are hopelessly ob- 
tuse ; and, although they are indefatigable hunters 
and anglers, yet they never develop sufficient men- 
tal acumen to take exceptions to the views of the 
London Times, the Daily News, or any other one 
of the journals from which they cram their brains 
with political lore. They make tough enemies, 
hospitable friends, and conservative subjects ; but 
they invariably prefer hearty good fellowship, well 
backed up with a substantial array of stuffed veal, ale, 
and pudding, to exhausting political controversy. 
24 



370 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

And about anything relating to the history, the 
geography, or the institutions of America, they 
are mildly and complacently stupid ; nay, more, 
they are exasperatingly stupid. We can excuse 
the French poet who located alligators and palm 
trees upon the shores of Lake Erie, but when one 
of our own flesh and blood, in this age of railroads, 
telegraphs, and liberal ideas, does not possess a 
school-boy's knowledge of the United States, we 
must really protest against such abominable igno- 
rance. We cannot accept the silly excuse that it can 
not be expected of Englishmen to be acquainted 
with the affairs of a country not yet a hundred 
years old, and whose habits and customs are not 
recognized among the cultured classes of Europe. 

The third class of Englishmen that we come in 
contact with is the most disagreeable class of peo- 
ple imaginable. They are not only grossly igno- 
rant about American affairs, but they glory in 
parading their wretched ignorance on every avail- 
able occasion. They are bigoted, intolerant, and 
conceited. These are the individuals who rant in- 
terminably about distorted statements relating to 
American affairs, derived from hearsay and subsi- 
dized government periodicals. These scions of fair 
Albion never consider that personal experience 
or observation are essential to correct opinions 
about the practical features of republicanism. They 
convey the impression that an editor who has never 
visited the United States is specially endowed with 
oracular powers for expounding democratic doc- 



OUR IMPERIAL COUSINS. 3 71 

trines, exploding democratic theories, and for pre- 
dicting the speedy collapse of all institutions not 
based upon " blood " and prerogative. Here be- 
longs the coarse, the pedantic, the pig-headed 
Cockney, who is always on the qui vive to hurl his 
guffaws at anything American, and whose ignorance 
about things American is only equaled by his 
assurance in discussing them. Such are the people 
who inquire with languid sympathy why Americans 
always eat molasses on their pork ! It will be use- 
less for you to intimate to them that such is no 
more a general custom in America than it is for 
Englishmen to drink coffee and treacle together, 
for they will insist that Americans themselves say 
so. And when you endeavor to enlighten their 
minds by informing them that the American sailors, 
from whom they or their ancestors derived that 
morsel of information, were only talking about ma- 
rine customs, that were by no means an exponent 
of general national usage, they will the more vigor- 
ously insist upon the correctness of their statement 
and plunge into the subject with renewed anima- 
tion. They inform you with great satisfaction that 
they are able to distinguish an American before he 
has spoken three words, — reposing in sublime igno- 
rance of the fact that their own brogue and appear- 
ance render them equally conspicuous to Americans. 
They express intense merriment at Americans tak- 
ing only three months to "do" Europe, without 
considering that their own countrymen take much 
less time for " doing " America, and then seem to 



372 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

consider themselves capable of discussing any feat- 
ure of the country. They take it for granted that 
every American is disposed to be boastful, and 
therefore organize themselves into a reform com- 
mittee to eradicate this idiosyncrasy ; and, while 
deeming themselves entitled to assume the perfec- 
tion of everything English, and considering it appro- 
priate for John Bull to consider himself ne plus ultra, 
they manifest unfeigned uneasiness at having other 
nations assume the same premises respecting them- 
selves, and feel highly scandalized at Brother Jona- 
than's most excellent opinion respecting himself. 
Being aware that no aristocracy on the Prussian 
Blue system exists in America, they infer that 
society must be " orridly " common, and that polite 
and elegant language is not much used, and, upon 
the principle of not casting pearls before swine, 
they take no pains to express themselves in the 
deferential phrases with which they would address 
educated people of their own country, but adopt a 
brusque phraseology that borders on the coarse and 
impertinent. I have frequently listened in silence 
to terms and forms of speech insulting to my coun- 
try, because, by taking notice thereof, a noisy alter- 
cation would have inevitably ensued. Should the 
unkind decrees of mysterious fate ordain that you 
should sit opposite to one of these people at a 
dinner party, you will find your hands full for the 
balance of the meal. You will find him to be as 
ignorant of the principles of Lord Chesterfield's 
immortal work as a horse is of rhetoric. He is not 



OUR IMPERIAL COUSINS. 373 

aware of the fact that, in a promiscuous company, 
national peculiarities should not be offensively 
dwelt upon. 

Those of our imperial cousins who have been 
endowed with thoughtful minds have collected, 
from history, and from a study of the social and of 
the political institutions of Japan, a very subtle 
and highly scientific series of arguments in favor 
of monarchical forms of governments. General- 
izing from history, they argue that, before and 
since the days of the Jewish theocracy when the 
people clamored for a king to reign over them, 
mankind has always manifested a natural prefer- 
ence for monarchical forms of government. These 
forms of government, say they, have always been 
the most prevalent and the most popular in all 
ages and in all countries. Greece and Rome began 
as monarchies and ended as monarchies. All the 
republics that have ever existed, were eventually 
merged into monarchies. Society, in all countries, 
has always shown a natural disposition to differen- 
tiate itself. You are bound to have your high 
classes and your low classes at the social extremes. 
Ignorance, poverty, and vice will inevitably form a 
substratum, in any community, that will be unfit 
to govern itself for any length of time ; and those 
classes wherein concentrate wealth, refinement, and 
intelligence, will eventually devise methods where- 
by to control the masses. Such evolutions of so- 
cial differentiations will only be a question of time 
in any country, they say. 



374 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

And, applying their generalizations to Japan, 
they fortify their theories with practical illustra- 
tions. The Amos, the aborigines of the country, 
were mild tribes of pastoral people living in huts 
and caves, and subsisting on the spoils of the chase. 
In their primitive state of society, social equality 
prevailed. The head man of the hamlet, or of the 
village, was on a level with his constituents. Then 
came the Malays and the Mongolians with their 
superior bravery and intelligence. In the course of 
centuries, amalgamation and differentiation evolved 
the present triple system of Japanese society, viz.: 
the samurai, the tradesmen, and the peasantry. 
The descendants of each class naturally inherited 
the traits peculiar to that class, until each breed 
became so fixed in its characteristics that the feat- 
ures and bearing of each class could be readily dis- 
tinguished. And even though feudal caste has 
been abolished, and all the people are merely sub- 
jects before the emperor, yet the samurai class 
still is the governing class, the tradesmen still keep 
on in their old avocations, and the peasants wade 
in the mud as of yore, hardly being aware of the 
vast changes around them, and being just as un- 
fitted for governing the empire as if the laws for- 
bade them entering the civil service. 

Thus will it eventually be in the United States, 
they predict. In the course of centuries, the high, 
the middle, and the low classes will differentiate 
themselves into well defined types of the commu- 
nity. The ranks of trade will be filled with the 



OUR IMPERIAL COUSINS. 375 

descendants of those who manifested peculiar fit- 
ness for mercantile pursuits in by-gone years, and 
who have transmitted to their progeny their own 
peculiar mercantile aptitude and proclivities. The 
laboring classes will naturally be composed of the 
descendants of laborers. And those families that 
have held money and land for many generations, 
will develop into keen, intelligent, diplomatic classes 
of people who will be naturally fitted for the pro- 
fessions and for politics, having the inclination, the 
training, and the leisure to devote thereto. And, 
in the course of centuries, we will have three dis- 
tinct classes of society transmitting to their de- 
scendants their own peculiar tastes, inclinations, 
characteristics and features, until we have, like the 
Japanese, almost three distinct races. When that 
time comes, then will the higher classes naturally 
absorb power and prerogative. Citing our immi- 
gration, they predict that in a few years there will 
be vast masses of Chinese in the United States, 
who, in connection with the millions of negroes 
already in the country, will form a substratum of 
society having but little aptitude or inclination for 
self-government, and expecting to be governed by 
the more enterprising and imperious Caucasians. 
This Caucasian element will be like the Malay ele- 
ment in Japan — fiery, intelligent, capable of gov- 
erning. It v/ill naturally form an aristocratic class. 
And then, as aristocrats must have a court and a 
monarchy, we will have, in the course of time, these 
institutions established in the United States. While 



376 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

a country is young and growing, a republican form 
of government is all well enough, they say ; but 
when it has become well settled, it naturally be- 
comes conservative and monarchical in all its ten- 
dencies. In short, the ideas of our imperial cous- 
ins, when reduced to a definite proposition, is, 
that, in political matters, a cultured minority must 
govern the vulgar majority ; which principle, they 
claim, will eventually prevail in the United States. 
" Behold ! how intensely monarchical in all their 
tendencies are all your Southern States. Virginia, 
Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
and Louisiana, were all christened in honor of 
European monarchs ; they were settled by an aris- 
tocratic element, by the sons of impecunious gen- 
try, by the shoddy patrician classes, if you so 
please to express it, who emigrated, under the 
auspices and under the leadership of noblemen, to 
seek in the rich fields and favorable climate of the 
relaxing latitudes of the South the necessaries and 
the luxuries of life without being subjected to the 
severe toil and to the bitter climatic vicissitudes 
endured by the settlers of bleak New England. 
The salubrity and the fertility of the South having 
thus attracted the Bohemian element of British 
aristocracy, there naturally sprang up in those re- 
gions the customs and manners of patricians. A 
powerful slave aristocracy was rapidly developed, 
which perpetually collided with the republican ten- 
dencies of the plebeian North, and which would 
eventually have terminated in monarchy had it not 



OUR IMPERIAL COUSINS. 377 

been crushed at frightful cost." Such, I ween 
would be the ideas of our thoughtful imperial 
cousins, when captured and expressed in intell- 
igible English. The shrewd and crafty aristocracy 
of England had long known how matters were 
drifting in the South, and, from the commencement 
of the conflict, gave their unqualified and hearty 
support to the mediaeval confederacy of Calhoun • 
and, like an evil spirit, stood ever ready to sow dis- 
sension, and to widen the gap between the North 
and the South— between republicanism and mo- 
narchical tendencies, between a higher and nobler 
development of democratic institutions and the 
evolution of a patrician condition of society with 
all its selfish and conservative theories. From afar 
they saw that this medieval aristocracy and con- 
federacy must either develop into feudalism or into 
monarchy; in either case, republicanism, with all its 
hated tendencies, would be destroyed ; the white 
man would forever be the imperious samurai, the 
black man would forever be the laboring heimin- 
and the' republic of the North would be perpet- 
ually menaced by the foothold thus gained by 
monarchy on the North American Continent The 
establishment of a European monarchy by force 
of arms in the republic of Mexico, during the prog- 
ress of our Civil War, was thoroughly in harmony 
with the spirit of the British aristocracy. 

But it is needless to state that untoward events 
demolished the schemes of the diplomatic patri- 
cians of the old world, yet, while we have crushed 



378 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

the armies of the Rebellion, we must admit that it 
will take a long time for the old tendencies to fade 
away. We must be ever vigilant to check the 
advances of the old slave aristocracy. It will be 
cheaper for us to keep the South in the Union 
than to allow a vast and hostile monarchy to be 
established beside our Northern republic ; to be 
compelled to fortify thousands of miles of frontier ; 
and to be compelled to keep a standing army equal 
in size to the vast legions that the Southern 
empire would probably keep under arms at all 
times. These, however, are problems for the fu- 
ture to solve. I, for my part, do not think we will 
fulfill the predictions or conform to the ingenious 
deductions of our imperial cousins. 

Undoubtedly there is considerable truth in the 
foregoing enunciation. There can be no question 
that monarchical forms of government have cer- 
tainly been the most common in the world. 
Equally evident is it that society will differentiate 
itself to a certain extent in every country. We 
have, and always have had, in the United States, 
laboring classes, mercantile classes, and moneyed 
classes decidedly aristocratic in their tendencies. 
I do not think that these three general classes can 
ever be done away with. There always must be social 
inequality in this world until the spirit of Christ 
has permeated all classes and has imbued every- 
body with neighborly feelings of kindness and con- 
sideration for mankind in general. We can never 
make laws to compel select circles of beatified 



OUR IMPERIAL COUSINS. 379 

snobs to admit the public in general to their social 
communings. Just fancy the utter absurdity in- 
volved in attempting to say through our legis- 
latures to the old Knickerbocker families of New 
York, or to the haughty aristocracy of the South- 
ern States, "Admit the public at large to all your 
social gatherings ; to wit : to your balls, to your 
dinner parties, to your house-warmings ; be per- 
fectly impartial to every one ; show no social 
preferences of any description whatsoever ; call 
upon everybody, and receive calls from every- 
body." 

Social sets and cliques, based upon likes and 
dislikes, similarity of tastes, and upon worldly 
prosperity, will invariably be organized wherever 
men congregate in communities, whether in mon- 
archies or republics. And these social inequalities 
are perfectly consistent with our theories of politi- 
cal equality. But we and our descendants must be 
vigilant and prevent selfish and ambitious families 
from using their social advantages as a basis upon 
which to found political prerogative and privilege. 
Here lies the danger of the future. There can be 
no disgrace in candidly admitting this. Let us 
clearly understand it, and let us be perpetually on 
guard ; then will our democratic institutions be 
safe. 

I think that, as we develop the principles of the 
Gospels in our social and political affairs, we will 
find the true solution of this complicated question. 
Some will treat this confession of faith with con- 



380 LEISTERS FROM JAPAN. 

temptuous derision. But let us look into facts a 
little, and see if they do not support our view. 
Although the Constitution of the United States 
does not recognize any creed or religion, yet the 
principles upon which it is founded are eminently 
Christian in spirit. Equality, justice, and good- 
will toward all nations, breathe all through it. 
And, in obedience to the directions contained 
therein, the whole policy of our government has 
been to elevate and benefit the poor and weak 
members of the community ; and it extends these 
privileges to any nation whose people show any 
disposition to become part of the commonwealth. 
Has there ever been such liberality as this in the 
history of nations ? Is it not thoroughly Christian ? 
It has introduced into the world a description of 
political equality that will permit the development 
of such characters as Abraham Lincoln from a raw- 
boned peasant into a President. Who can deny 
that these doctrines and principles, when consist- 
ently practiced by every one, will develop a spirit 
of mutual consideration and confidence? When 
the poor cease to envy the fortuitous condition of 
the wealthy, and when those favored by fortune 
cease to be supercilious and selfish, then will be 
consummated a condition of society dimly forecast 
by the prophets. It is safe to say that in propor- 
tion as the principles of the Gospels have been 
faithfully and honestly applied to politics and to 
society, in that same proportion have they become 
elevated and liberalized. 



OUR IMPERIAL COUSINS. 38 1 

In my very humble opinion, Christ's kingdom 
will be nothing more nor less than a universal 
republic wherein social and political equality will 
be secured by mutual consideration and kindness 
among all classes and nations. This state of affairs 
will prevail just as soon as mankind will allow it to 
do so. Christianity is the only equalizer in the 
world. The poorest may practice its precepts and 
secure that refinement of sentiment and action 
which mere rank and riches fail to bestow. It 
alone teaches that the chief end of life is the sub- 
jection of the appetites and passions to the purer 
and nobler impulses of the soul. Its principles, 
when applied to the details of every-day life, 
become a profound and wonderful science ; a com- 
plicated problem whose terms are ever varying, 
whose objective point is always self-conquest, 
whose arena is the human heart and brain, and 
whose factors are the soul and the evil tendencies 
of the flesh. All must fight the same battle. The 
rich perhaps may fight under more favorable cir- 
cumstances ; but, on the other hand, more is ex- 
pected of them. The samurai acquires a polished 
bearing and diction from his favorable surround- 
ings ; but it is only a social veneer ; he carries 
beneath it a cruel and lustful heart ; he is admon- 
ished to combat these vile tendencies of his nature 
and to subdue them ere he can enter the kingdom 
of Christ. The hcimin, on the other hand, born 
into life with gross passions and ambitionless emo- 
tions, is directed to eliminate his coarse appetites 



382 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

and to develop the obtuse and dwarfed faculties of 
his mind. The precepts of Christianity demand of 
one that he should crush his foul and treacherous 
instincts ; of the other, his splenetic idiosyn- 
crasies. Each must battle with those failings 
peculiar to himself ; succeeding in this, their souls 
harmonize and are brought into congenial fellow- 
ship ; herein they become equal. 

I care not what may be a man's nationality ; 
provided his soul is sincerely struggling with the 
base elements of his nature, he is my friend. If I 
see an Englishman leading a life of shame in these 
regions, I feel mortified and grieved. Dr. Johnson 
may not have had the manners of a horse, accord- 
ing to the standard of the patrician Chesterfield, 
but, beneath his boorish exterior, there dwelt the 
instincts of a Christian gentleman ; while beneath 
the social veneer of the noble lord, there lurked 
the heart of a crafty and salacious scoundrel, who 
would not have hesitated to corrupt the purity of 
any household in Christendom, who instilled his 
infernal creed into the youthful mind of his son, 
and whose wretched precepts and example form but 
a miserable excuse for his fast young countrymen 
in the East. 

When all classes and all nations practice the 
principles enunciated in the Gospels in all the de- 
tails of their lives, I apprehend that there will be 
but little collision between the peoples and the 
natiogs of the earth. This peaceful condition is 
the one toward which mankind seems to be rapidly 



OUR IMPERIAL COUSINS. 383 

drifting, — a universal republic, Christ's kingdom, 
the millennium, whatever you choose to call it. 

But whatever the future may bring forth, let our 
imperial cousins be mindful of the fact that, during 
the past century, Europe and England have de- 
veloped strong democratic tendencies. Let them 
not be oblivious of the fact that Great Britain is 
far more liberal and democratic now than she was 
a hundred years ago ; that she has been steadily 
coming up to the level of the American standard 
of politics for many years ; that this progress on 
her part is rapidly lessening the difference between 
our two systems of government ; and that if she 
goes on in the same ratio of improvement, she will 
soon be a republic. We do not believe the doc- 
trine that a cultivated minority can best govern the 
majority of the people in an intelligent and Chris- 
tian community. We believe that in such com- 
munities the sentiment of the majority, upon all 
political questions, is apt to be safer and sounder 
than the sentiment of the minority ; and that the 
sentiment of that majority, fairly, candidly, and 
conscientiously expressed, should always be sover- 
eign. Cultured minorities may reach shrewd con- 
clusions, but they are frequently exceedingly selfish 
in their doctrines and policies. No, my imperial 
cousins, we will not discuss this matter any further. 
We will let the future demonstrate which is the 
safer and sounder theory. But I am inclined to 
think that the logic of facts will speedily demon- 
strate to the satisfaction of mankind that suffrage, 



384 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

based upon man as the unit of political power, is 
the best, the safest, and the most satisfactory of all 
sovereigns. 

And now, Julius Marcellus, I shall probably not 
write any more letters from Kioto. I am not en- 
joying the best of health here, and it is time to be 
returning to my own country to resume my inter- 
rupted studies. I am seriously thinking of resign- 
ing my position and returning home by way of 
India and Europe. My route has been long laid 
out, and I have been steadily growing impatient to 
start off. My next letter will be definite upon this 
matter, and, till then, farewell ! 

Theophilus Pratt. 



LETTER XXI. 

FAREWELL TO JAPAN. 

Yokohama, January 8, 1878. 

Dear Julius Marcellus: 

The time has now come for me to bid farewell 
to Japan. I resigned my position in Kioto last 
month, and have been supremely busy ever since in 
making preparations for my departure from these 
very pleasant shores. There are many strong rea- 
sons that have combined to urge me to decide to 
leave this country. 

In the first place, I have contracted a stubborn 
intermittent fever, derived, I presume, from sleep- 
ing on the floor in the temple at Kioto. My con- 
tract being only for one year, I did not feel dis- 
posed to waste money on a bedstead, and therefore 
adopted the Japanese method of repose, which I 
am now prepared to characterize as not only un- 
comfortable, but decidedly unhealthy, as the foul 
air from beneath the house thus finds ready access 
to your lungs. I presume that I have also aggra- 
vated my malady by a series of colds which I have 
taken in the school-room and in my Kioto man- 
25 



386 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

sion. In the high rooms of the temple it was 
almost impossible to keep myself warm, even with 
a red-hot stove. In vain did I paper up all the 
crevices of my study, hoping thus to keep in the 
heat, for I discovered that the shojees allowed the 
warm air to filter through them as if they had been 
sieves. 

In the second place, I found myself rapidly be- 
coming a confirmed dyspeptic from the bad habit 
of hastily swallowing my food. Eating my meals 
all alone, without any enlivening conversation, was 
also very injurious to my digestion. My breakfast 
was usually disposed of in silence ; my lunch was 
always a minus quantity, as the school was three 
miles from home ; and my dinner was devoured 
with a ravenous appetite, whetted to the keenest 
of edges by the long walks of the day. The soli- 
tude and the silence were becoming unendurable. 
I had enough of that experience in Hirosaki. Life 
in Kioto, of course, was not nearly so lonely as 
that up north, but, taken in connection with the 
feverish condition of my system, it seemed to 
make it prudent for me to terminate my engage- 
ment. 

In the third place, if I wish to settle down in my 
own country, it is high time to be returning. 
Nearly a quarter of a century has passed over my 
head, and, with my professional studies in view, 
time is becoming exceedingly valuable. Although 
Japan has a lovely climate and the most beautiful 
scenery, yet so different are the people from our- 



FA RE WELL TO JAPAN. 38 J 

selves in thought, sentiment, and aspiration, that it 
would be impossible for me to affiliate and to grow 
up with them. 

But it is not without much regret that I take 
leave of this charming land. I have spent four 
exceedingly happy years here, and I shall always 
look back to this period of my life with feelings of 
profound pleasure. My trips over lake, mountain, 
and river will forever be bright spots in my 
memory, that the flight of years may render dim, 
but can never erase. 

I take this occasion to thank you for the many 
kind letters with which you have favored me dur- 
ing my exile. It is a matter of regret to me that 
I shall now be deprived of the pleasure of hearing 
the postman at my gate announcing the arrival of 
letters from home. You, who get your mails every 
day, can have but faint conception of the thrill of 
joyful expectancy experienced by us who receive 
ours but once a fortnight. I shall be amply satis- 
fied if my own rambling correspondence shall have 
afforded you one-half of the pleasure that yours 
has afforded me. 

I do not expect ever to return to Japan. Pos- 
sibly in the dim future I may revisit the scenes of 
my youthful sojourn in these regions. But it will 
never be the same country to me again. It will 
have undergone vast changes, — all for the better, 
no doubt, — but it will but shadow forth the quaint 
reminiscences of the past. There is a lovely strain 
in the Deserted Village that floats through my 



388 LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

memory as I write these closing lines. Let me 
conclude by quoting it : 

" Sweet Auburn ! Parent of the blissful hour ! 
Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power. 
Here, as I take my solitary rounds, 
Amidst thy tangling walks and ruined grounds, 
And, many a year elapsed, return to view 
Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew, — 
Remembrance wakes with all her busy train, 
Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain." 

Sincerely yours, 

Theophilus Pratt. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Ainos 55 

Assassinations — causes of . . . 109 

Aven ues 86 

Avvomori— description of . . . . 40 

" journey to 41 

meeting scholars 

at 41 

night scene in. . . 41 

hotel in 42 

Ban-Cho 147 

Bell of Chioin Monastery. . . .246 
British Legation in Tokio.. ..146 
Browbeating the Japanese — 

sample of 122 

Buddhist Monasteries in Ja- 
pan 315 

Buddhism compared with 

Christianity 318 

Capital and Labor in Japan. .356 

Cascades at Nikko 186 

Chapel of Iyeyas at Nikko. . . 183 

Chiusenji Lake 175 

Christianity discussed by Jap- 
anese Scholars 165 

Civilization and Beefsteak. . .224 
Civilization and Religion — 

correlative terms 214 

Complexion of Japanese. . . .338 
Compositions — samples of . . . 168 
Conjugal Relations of the Jap- 
anese -346 

Court Scene in Hakodate. . . 105 

Dai-Butz at Nara 262 

Daimios —description of 65 

life of 66 

" poetry of 68 



PAGE 

Death of Buddha — note 258 

Death of Saigo 301 

Defender of the Faith 213 

Desima. . . 143 

Dogs — idiosyncrasies describ- 
ed 178 

Dutch — annual visit to Yeddo. 137 
Ejinsan — treatment of native 

house 153 

Ejinsan — what 131 

Empress Jingo 222 

Endless Mountain 238 

English Press in Yokohama. 366 
Execution of the Assassin. . . 107 

Family Jars 348 

Farewell to Hirosaki 127 

Farewell Address from Direc- 
tors 128 

Feudal Customs — decadence. 71 
Feudal Government describ- 
ed 76 

Foreign Teachers in Japan. . 84 

Fujiyama 272 

44 appearance from 

summit 2S1 

44 climbing - .277 

44 cone 279 

44 descent 285 

44 general features of 

landscape 275 

14 huts on summit. .. .282 

44 routes to 273 

1 ' view at base 275 

44 view at summit. . . .282 

Gin-Kakku-Gi — temple 247 

Godown — definition of 139 



390 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Hakodate — description of . . . 38 
foreign popula- 
tion of 39 

" battle in 39 

" journey to 38 

Hara-Kiri 139; no 

Hebachi 151 

Hirosaki — my house 49 ; 82 

" meeting scholars. 49 

" horseback ride to. 44 

description of . . . . 36 

" " school. 82 

my Boy 90 

his eccentricities. . 91 

" musical dogs 96 

Hotel Bill — sample of 221 

House-keeping in Tokio . . . .153 

Inland Sea 191 

Ise Temples 230 

Ivva-ki-san 35; 53 

Iyemitsu — shrines of 184 

Iyeyas 68 

Japanese Singing 88 

" love of novelty in 

religious matters. .203 

" village scenery 45 

" kowtowing 46 

" soldiers 57 

" Castles — origin.... 58 
" general 

features. 59 
" " one at Hi- 

rosaki. . 59 
" " audience 

chamber. . 63 
" " present con- 

dition .... 64 
" red tape — sample of. 120 

Jesuit Priest in Hirosaki 113 

Jinriksha 132 

Kago 132 

Kai-Sei-Gakko 148 

Kamakura Image 267 

Kayaki Wood 306 

Kii Province 232 

Kioto — routes to 244 

" general characteris- 
tics 248 



PAGE 

Kioto — my house ..251 

" neighbors 252 

" " Boy .256 

" population 244 

' ' temples 245 

" Chioin temple 246 

" religious features 248 

' ' character of people . . 248 
" holiday of courtesans. 2-1 9 

" picnics 250 

Kin-Kakku-Gi 246 

Kobe 190 

Kobu-Daishi 239 

Kumamoto Castle 295 

" siege 297 

Lake Biwa 304 

Laws of Iyeyas 68 ; 71 

Life of Priests in Monasteries. 31 7 

Mikado 71 ; 73 

Mining Department 145 

Missions in Tokio 198 

" " Yokohama 199 

Mitsu-Bishi Company 189 

Mitsui Bank 216 

Mission Work in Yokohama. 199 

" " hostility to 205 

Monastery of Coyasan 239 

Monastery of Hiyeisan 306 

" " " priests. 308 

" slaugh- 
ter of 
priests. 309 
" " vie w 

from 311 

Mukojima — cherry groves. . . 158 

Nagasaki 191 

Nara — temple 261 

" dimensions of image. 263 

" bell... 266 

New-Year's calling in Japan. 137 

Nihon-Bashi 136 

Nikko Village 1 79 

Nikko Temples 1 79 

Nirvana 313 

Norimon 86 

Ono Village 225 

Owari Castle 63 ; 228 

Pacific Railway 2 



INDEX. 



391 



PAGE 

Pacific Steamers — embarking. 7 
4 * starting ... 8 

" " class of 

passengers. 6 

voyage. ... 10 

" table scene. 11 

Pappenberg 193 

Pilgrimages of Natives 174 

Politeness of Japanese 139 

Promiscuous Bathing 187 

Province of Omi — produc- 
tions. 221 

" " Mino " 228 

" " Owari " 229 

" " Iga " ...230 

" Kii 233 

" " Akitah — assas- 
sin 101 

Reception near Hirosaki ... 46 

Kice Diet 237 

Roman Catholics in Japan.. in 

Samurai — description 73, 76 

Satsuma Rebellion — causes. .291 

Samurai 291 

" Rebellion — Saigo..288 

" outbreak. 292 

Sake — use of, by Japanese. . .335 

School -boys in Tokio 155 

School-teachers' occupation. .157 

Schools in Tokio 162 

School Contract — sample. . . . 37 

Sei-O-Ken— hotel 144 

Shaka 312 

Shimonoseki affair 367 

Shintoism 231 

Shogun's Position — defined. . 72 

Shojees 62 

Shodo Shionin — legend con- 
cerning 180 

Sir Harry Parke's Visit to 

Emperor 299 

Summer Recreations in Japan 173 

Takada — Prince of Iga 224 

Takashima Coal Mines 194 

Tatamis — descriptive note ... 42 
Teaching — how conducted. . . 163 
Theatres 159 



PAGE 

Tobacco— use of 333 

Tomb of Tokugawa Iyeyas. . 183 
Tokio — geological features. . 132 

" " doing" of 134 

Tokio Climate 149 

" Asakusa Temple 135 

" Conflagrations 150 

" Uyeno Park 135 

" Society 151 

Toogu — Gakko 36 

Tokugawa House 68 

Traveling by Jinrikisha 176 

Truancy of Scholars 167 

Tsukidji 143 

Tsuruga 223 

Tycoon 71 

Tsuruga Dai 148 

Tsugaru Straits 35 

Umoto Sulphur Springs 187 

Wine in Japan 337 

Woman Suffrage in Japan. . .350 
Various Classes of English- 
men 368 

Yakunin — defined 77 

Yamato-Yashiki 144 

Yashiki 132 

Yed do— features 137 

" fires 138 

" earthquakes 139 

" merchants 140 

Yesso 55 

Yokohama — arrival 17 

" description 21 

" Curio Street ... 22 

Bluffs 21 

" Mississippi Bay.. 23 

U. S. Naval 

Hospital 24 

social features . . 24 

" rifle range 23 

recreations 25 

Dramatic Associ- 
ation 27 

public gardens. . 27 
newspapers .... 28 

" trade 31 

Yoshiwara System 342 



VERDICT OF THE PRESS 

ON 

A BUDGET OF LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 

Mr. Maclay has succeeded in writing- a book as interesting as a novel and as 
instructive as a history. — Brooklyn Daily Times. 

We heartily commend it to our readers as giving the latest, most realistic, and 
satisfactory picture of this wonderful nation and country.— Zion's Herald, Boston. 

We can commend the book as one of unusual interest and value.— N. Y. Sun. 

He has brought to his readers more original information than any other single 
writer known to us.— Northern Christian Advocate. 

The general charm of the writer's style, so full of the exuberance and the 
hope of youth, will compel many thousands of pleased readers. The book is 
blessedly free from figures, statistics and " bony matter," ' and makes an attractive 
literary dish, whose contents melt easily on the mental palate.— The Critic, N. Y. 

The book is one of great interest and value.— Christian Advocate, N. Y. 

One of the brightest and best works of the kind that it has ever been our 
fortune to read. This book is admirably suited to the needs of the Sabbath-school 
and family library.— N. Y. Observer. 

We have enjoyed the reading much, and thank Mr. Maclay for the book.— The 
Chwchman, IV. Y. 

He has steered clear of guide-books and statistics, and he has not rehashed 
the writings of those in whose track he has traveled.— N. Y. Herald. 

No better book has been given to the public on life in Japan as it is to-day. — 
Scottish American, N. Y. 

A thoroughly readable book.— The Advance, Chicago. 

To say that the volume is readable is faint praise. The book is one of the 
most interesting recently published.— Western Christian Advocate. 

We do not remember to have found a more impressive description of the 
country .—Pittsburgh Chronicle- Telegraph. 

When we are through with this beautifully illustrated volume, we know 
about all we can learn of Japan without personal visits. — The Interior, Chicago. 

We cannot doubt that a book so abounding in information, attractively given, 
will very soon be a popular one.— The Standard, Chicago. 

The whole book is interesting, and will abundantly repay reading.— Journal 
of Education, Boston. 

it covers a large field of description exceedingly -well.— Hartford Courant. 

We commend this book most warmly to all who want the truth about a most 
attractive form of heathenism. The book has a vividness and a vitality that are 
uncommon elements in works of this class.— Christian Intelligencer, N. Y. 

A fascinating series of sketches of life and travel in the land of wonder.— 
Sunday School Times, Philadelphia. 

A book of reliable and most useful information. — Christian Union, N. Y. 

The reader who wishes to form a clear idea of Japanese character and Japan- 
ese institutions can consult no better book than Mr. Maclay's " Budget.''— Boston 
Evening Transcript. 

Tne most interesting book on Japan yet published.— Methodist-Protestant, 
Baltimore. 

In it there is a picture of Japanese life and character not found in any other 
book on Japan.— O erland Monthly. Cal. 

The writer contrives to leave with his readers a vivid and satisfactory impres- 
sion of what is most characteristic— A 7 ". Y. Independent. 

The places described are the most interesting in the whole empire. The dis- 
cussion (between Christianity and Buddhism) is conducted with great ability and 
fairness.— The Church at Home and Abroad. 

We specially commend to our readers this attractive volume.— Canadian 
Methodist Magazine. 

A handsome and interesting volume.— The Globe. St. John, N. B. 
One Vol., Crown Octavo, Cloth. Price $2.00. 



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